THE 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD  j 


IMPRESSIONS    OF    AMERICA. 


FREDRIKA  BREMER. 


va 


TRANSLATED    BY    MARY    HOWITT. 


SING   UNTO  THE   LORD  A  NEW  SONG."— Psalm  XCVL 


IN    TWO    VOLUMES. 

VOL.  II. 


NEW    YORK: 


HARPER   &    BROTHERS,    PUBLISHERS, 

329    &    331    PEARL    STREET, 

FRANKLIN     SQUARE. 

1853. 


3& 


REESE 


THE 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 


LETTER  XXVI. 


On  the  Mississippi,  October  15th. 

Toward  sunset  on  the  most  lovely  and  glorious  evening, 
we  came  out  of  the  narrow  little  winding  Five  River,  and 
entered  the  grand  Mississippi,  which  flowed  broad  and  clear 
as  a  mirror  between  hills  which  extended  into  the  distance, 
and  now  looked  blue  beneath  the  mild,  clear  blue  heavens, 
in  which  the  new  moon  and  the  evening  star  ascended, 
becoming  brighter  as  the  sun  sank  lower  behind  the  hills. 
The  pure  misty  veil  of  the  Indian  summer  was  thrown 
over  the  landscape ;  one  might  have  believed  that  it  was 
the  earth's  smoke  of  sacrifice  which  arose  in  the  evening 
toward  the  gentle  heavens.  Not  a  breath  of  air  moved, 
every  thing  was  silent  and  still  in  that  grand  spectacle ; 
it  was  indescribably  beautiful.  Just  then  a  shot  was 
fired ;  a  smoke  issued  from  one  of  the  small  green  islands, 
and  flocks  of  ducks  and  wild  geese  flew  up  round  about, 
escaping  from  the  concealed  sportsman,  who  I  hope  this 
evening  returned  without  game.  All  was  again  silent  and 
still,  and  the  Menomonie  advanced  with  a  quiet,  steady 
course  up  the  glorious  river. 

I  stood  on  the  upper  deck  with  the  captain,  Mr.  Smith, 
and  the  representative  from  Minnesota,  Mr.  Sibley,  who, 
with  his  wife  and  child,  were  returning  home  from  Wash- 
ington. 

Was  this,  then,  indeed,  the  Mississippi,  that  wild  giant 


I^^QQ 


4  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

of  nature,  which  I  had  imagined  would  he  so  powerful,  so 
divine,  so  terrible  ?  Here  its  waters  were  clear,  of  a  fresh, 
light-green  color,  and  within  their  beautiful  frame  of  dis- 
tant violet-blue  mountains,  they  lay  like  a  heavenly  mir- 
ror, bearing  on  their  bosom  verdant,  vine-covered  islands, 
like  islands  of  the  blessed.  The  Mississippi  was  here  in  its 
youth,  in  its  state  of  innocence  as  yet.  It  has  not  as  yet 
advanced  very  far  from  its  fountains ;  no  crowd  of  steam- 
boats muddy  its  waters.  The  Menomonie  and  one  other, 
a  still  smaller  boat,  are  the  only  ones  which  ascend  the 
river  above  Gralena ;  no  cities  cast  into  it  their  pollution ; 
pure  rivers  only  flow  into  its  waters,  and  aborigines  and 
primeval  forests  still  surround  it.  Afterward,  far  below 
and  toward  the  world's  sea,  where  the  Mississippi  comes 
into  the  life  of  the  states,  and  becomes  a  statesman,  he  has 
his  twelve  hundred  steamers,  and  I  know  not  how  many 
thousand  sailing-boats,  gives  himself  up  to  cities  and  the 
population  of  cities,  and  is  married  to  the  Missouri :  then 
it  is  quite  different ;  then  is  it  all  over  with  the  beauty 
and  innocence  of  the  Mississippi. 

But  now,  now  it  was  beautiful,  and  the  whole  of  that 
evening  on  the  Mississippi  was  to  me  like  an  enchant- 
ment. 

The  Mississippi,  discovered  by  Europeans,  has  two 
epochs,  and  in  each  a  romance:  the  Qne  as  different  to 
the  other  as  day  and  night,  as  the  sun-bright  idyl  to  the 
gloomy  tragedy,  as  the  Mississippi  here  in  its  youth,  and 
the  Mississippi  down  at  St.  Louis,  as  Mississippi-Missouri. 
The  first  belongs  to  the  northern  district,  the  second  to 
the  southern;  the  former  has  its  hero,  the  mild  pastor, 
Father  Marquette;  the  latter  the  Spanish  soldier,  Ferdi- 
nand de  Soto. 

France  and  England,  equally  jealous  competitors  for 
territorial  acquisitions,  were  the  first  possessors  of  the 
land  of  North  America.  The  French  Jesuits  were  the 
first  who  penetrated  into  the  wildernesses  of  Canada  and 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  5 

to  the  great  lakes  of  the  "West.  Religious  enthusiasm 
planted  the  Puritan  colony  on  Plymouth  Rock ;  religious 
enthusiasm  planted  the  cross,  together  with  the  lilies  of 
France,  on  the  shores  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  beside  Niagara, 
and  as  far  as  St.  Marie,  among  the  wild  Indians  by  Lake 
Superior.  The  noble,  chivalric  Champlain,  full  of  ardor 
and  zeal,  said,  "The  salvation  of  a  soul  is  worth  more 
than  the  conquest  of  a  kingdom." 

That  was  at  the  time  when  the  disciples  of  Loyola  went 
forth  over  the  world  to  conquer  it  as  a  kingdom  for  the 
Prince  of  Peace,  and  inscribed  the  sign  of  the  cross  in 
Japan,  in  China,  in  India,  in  Ethiopia,  among  the  Caffirs, 
in  California,  in  Paraguay.  They  invited  the  barbarian 
to  the  civilization  of  Christianity.  The  priests  who  pene- 
trated from  Canada  to  the  deserts  of  "Western  America 
were  among  the  noblest  of  their  class. 

"They  had  the  faults  of  ascetic  superstition;  but  the 
horrors  of  a  Canadian  life  in  the  wilderness  were  resisted 
by  an  invincible,  passive  courage,  and  a  deep  internal 
tranquillity.  Away  from  the  amenities  of  life,  away  from 
the  opportunities  of  vain-glory,  they  became  dead  to  the 
world,  and  possessed  their  souls  in  unutterable  peace. 
The  few  who  lived  to  grow  old,  though  bowed  by  the  toils 
of  a  long  mission,  still  kindled  with  the  fervor  of  apostolic 
zeal.  The  history  of  their  labors  is  connected  with  the 
origin  of  every  celebrated  town  in  the  annals  of  French 
America :  not  a  cape  was  turned,  not  a  river  entered,  but 
a  Jesuit  led  the  way." 

The  Jesuits,  Bribeuf  and  Daniel,  and  the  gentle  Lalle- 
mand,  accompanied  a  party  of  barefooted  Hurons  to  their 
country  through  dangerous  forests.  They  won  the  regard 
and  the  love  of  the  savages. 

Bribeuf,  who  is  said  to  have  been  the  pattern  of  every 
religious  virtue,  lived  fifteen  years  among  the  Hurons, 
baptizing  them  to  the  religion  of  Christ,  and  instructing 
them  in  the  occupations  of  peace.     "Works  of  love,  self- 


6  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

mortification,  prayers  deep  into  the  night — such  was  his 
life.  Yet  all  the  more  increased  his  love  for  the  Master 
whom  he  served,  and  his  desire  to  suffer  in  His  service. 
He  thirsted  after  it  as  others  thirst  after  the  delights  of 
life.  He  made  a  vow  never  to  decline  the  opportunity  of 
martyrdom,  and  never  to  receive  the  death-blow  except 
with  joy. 

Such  was  a  faith  to  remove  mountains ;  and  it  did  more, 
it  implanted  the  vitalizing  love  of  Christ  in  the  blood- 
thirsty heart  of  the  savage.  The  great  warrior  Ahasis- 
tari  said,  "  Before  you  came  to  this  country,  where  I  have 
incurred  the  greatest  perils,  and  have  alone  escaped,  have 
I  said  to  myself,  '  Some  powerful  spirit  has  the  guardian- 
ship of  my  days !'  "  And  he  professed  his  belief  in  Jesus 
as  the  good  Grenius  and  Protector,  whom  he  had  before 
unconsciously  adored.  After  trials  of  his  sincerity  he  was 
baptized ;  and  enlisting  a  troop  of  converts,  savages  like 
himself,  "  Let  us  strive,"  he  exclaimed,  "  to  make  the 
whole  world  embrace  the  faith  in  Jesus."  * 

Further  and  further  still  advanced  the  missionaries  to- 
ward the  West ;  they  heard  of  powerful  and  warlike  In- 
dian races,  such  as  the  mighty  Sioux,  who  dwelt  by  the 
great  River  Mississippi,  of  the  Erie,  and  Chippewas,  and 
Potawatomies,  and  others  who  dwelt  by  the  great  lakes. 
Dangers,  fatigues,  wildernesses,  savages,  all  stood  in  threat- 
ening array  before  them,  but  only  the  more  to  allure 
them. 

Hostile  tribes  overcame  the  Indians  who  conducted  them. 
The  savage  Mohawks  took  the  missionary  Isaac  Jogues 
prisoner,  and  with  him  the  noble  chief  Ahasistari.  Ahas- 
istari  had  succeeded  in  finding  a  hiding-place ;  but  when 
he  saw  Jogues  a  captive,  he  stepped  forth  to  him,  saying, 
"  My  brother,  I  made  a  vow  to  thee  that  I  would  share  thy 
fate,  whether  life  or  death — How  am  I  to  keep  my  vow  ?" 

The  savages  exercised  their  cruelty  upon  them  for  sev- 
*  Bancroft. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  7 

eral  days  and  nights.  When  Jogues  ran  the  gauntlet,  he 
consoled  himself  with  a  vision  of  the  glory  of  the  Queen 
of  Heaven.  One  evening,  after  a  day  of  torture,  an  ear 
of  Indian  corn  was  thrown  to  the  good  father,  and  see ! 
upon  the  broad  leaf  there  were  drops  of  water,  or  of  dew, 
sufficient  to  baptize  two  captive  Christian  converts  ! 

Ahasistari  and  two  of  his  people  were  burned.  He  met 
death  with  the  pride  of  an  Indian  and  the  calmness  of  a 
Christian. 

Father  Jogues  had  expected  the  same  fate ;  but  his  life 
was  spared  and  his  liberty  granted  to  him.  Roaming 
through  the  magnificent  forests  of  the  Mohawk  Valley,  he 
wrote  the  name  of  Jesus  on  the  bark  of  trees,  graved  the 
cross,  and  took  possession  of  these  countries  in  the  name 
of  God.  Often  lifting  up  his  voice  in  thanksgiving,  con- 
soling himself  in  his  sorrow  with  the  thought  that  he 
alone,  in  that  vast  region,  adored  the  true  God,  the  God 
of  heaven  and  of  earth. 

He  returned  safely  to  his  own  people  in  Canada,  but 
merely,  two  years  afterward,  to  set  out  once  more  to  seek 
new  perils  in  the  same  service.  "  I  shall  go,  but  shall 
never  return,"  said  he,  on  setting  out ;  and  soon  after- 
ward was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Mohawks,  who  said  that 
he,  by  his  enchantments,  had  blighted  their  harvest.  Tim- 
id by  nature,  yet  courageous  through  his  zeal,  he  received 
his  death-blow  with  calmness. 

Bribeuf,  Anthony,  Daniel,  and  the  mild  Lallemand,  all 
suffered  martyrdom  amid  such  torments  as  only  Indians 
can  devise ;  suffered  it  with  that  pious  courage  which  only 
the  love  of  Christ  can  inspire. 

The  villages  and  settlements  founded  by  the  good  fa- 
thers were  burned,  and  the  Christian  converts  perished  by 
fire  and  sword.  All  the  many  years'  labor  of  the  Jesuits 
was  destroyed,  and  the  wilderness  seemed  once  more  to 
grow  over  their  traces. 

Such  great  adversities  might  be  supposed  sufficient  to 


8  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

quench  the  ardor  of  the  missionaries.  Not  at  all !  They 
pressed  forward  anew. 

While  the  savage  nations  were  carrying  on  cruel  wars 
one  with  another,  and  converting  all  the  paths  through 
the  forest  of  the  West  into  paths  of  death,  the  Bishop  of 
Quebec,  Francis  de  Laval,  was  animated  by  the  desire  of 
conveying  the  doctrines  of  peace  to  the  shores  of  the  Great 
River.  He  desired  to  go  himself;  but  the  lot  fell  on  Rene 
Mesnard.  Every  personal  consideration  seemed  to  retain 
him  at  Quebec,  but  powerful  instincts  urged  him  to  risk 
his  life  in  the  enterprise.  He  was  already  old  when  he 
entered  on  the  path  still  red  with  the  blood  of  his  prede- 
cessors. "In  three  or  four  months,"  wrote  he  to  a  friend, 
on  his  journey,  "  and  you  may  add  my  name  to  those  of 
the  dead." 

He  went,  never  again  to  return.  Afar  off  in  the  wil- 
derness of  the  West,  while  his  attendant  was  one  day  oc- 
cupied in  the  transport  of  a  boat,  he  entered  a  forest  and 
was  never  more  seen :  his  cassock  and  breviary  were  long 
retained  as  amulets  among  the  Sioux !  Another  mission- 
ary was  killed  by  the  arrows  of  the  Indians  during  a  fight 
between  two  hostile  tribes. 

It  is  a  refreshment  to  turn  from  these  bloody  and  cruel 
scenes,  which  marked  the  first  introduction  of  Christianity 
by  Europe  into  the  West,  to  the  idyllian  and  peaceful  epi- 
sode of  the  Jesuit  missionary,  Marquette,  and  his  labors 
amid  those  savage,  warlike  Indian  tribes.  It  is  like  a  sun- 
beam between  thunder-clouds. 

Already  had  the  indefatigable  Father  Aloiiez  visited 
most  of  the  Indian  tribes  around  Lake  Superior,  and  dur- 
ing two  residences  among  them  had  taught  the  Chippewas 
to  chant  the  Paternoster  and  Ave  Maria,  had  been  invited 
by  the  Potawatomies,  the  worshipers  of  the  sun,  to  their 
huts  ;  had  smoked  the  pipe  of  peace  with  the  Illinois 
tribes,  who  told  him  of  their  great  fields  overgrown  with 
tall  grass,  where  troops  of  wild  deer  and  buffaloes  grazed ; 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  9 

he  had  even  met  the  quarrelsome  and  mighty  Sioux,  who 
lived  on  wild  rice,  covered  their  huts  with  skins  of  animals 
instead  of  bark,  and  dwelt  upon  the  prairie  near  the  Great 
River,  which  they  called  Messipi. 

Marquette  determined  to  discover  and  sail  down  the 
Great  River. 

He  had  gathered  around  him  the  remains  of  the  Huron 
nation,  and  settled  down  with  them  on  the  shores  of  Lake 
Michigan,  where  there  was  abundance  of  fish.  There 
they  built  themselves  huts. 

It  was  from  this  place  that  Marquette,  accompanied  by 
a  Frenchman  named  Joliet,  and  a  young  Indian  of  the  Il- 
linois tribe  as  guide,  set  forth  on  his  journey  of  discov- 
ery. The  French  intend  ant  of  Canada,  Talon,  favored 
Marquette's  enterprise,  wishing  to  ascertain  whether  the 
banner  of  France  could  be  carried  down  the  Great  River  as 
far  as  the  Pacific  Ocean,  or  planted  side  by  side  with  that 
of  Spain  on  the  Grulf  of  Mexico. 

Marquette  sought  by  his  journey  the  honor  of  a  higher 
master  than  an  earthly  sovereign:  "I  shall  gladly  lay 
down  my  life  for  the  salvation  of  souls,"  said  he,  in  answer 
to  a  messenger  of  the  Potawatomies,  who  warned  him 
"that  these  distant  nations  never  spared  strangers;  that 
their  mutual  wars  filled  the  shores  with  warriors;  and 
that  the  Great  River  abounded  with  monsters  which  de- 
voured both  men  and  canoes ;  and  that  the  excessive  heat 
was  mortal."  And  on  hearing  his  reply,  the  children  of 
the  wilderness  united  with  him  in  prayer  for  his  preserv- 
ation. 

"At  the  last  village  on  Fox  River  ever  visited  by  the 
French,"  using  the  words  of  Bancroft  the  historian,  for  I 
can  not  have  a  better  guide,  "where  Kickapoos,  Mascou- 
tins,  and  Miamis  dwelt  together  on  a  beautiful  hill,  in  the 
centre  of  the  prairies  and  magnificent  groves  that  extend- 
ed as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  and  where  Alouez  had  al- 
ready raised  the  cross,  which  the  savages  ornamented  with 

A  2 


10  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WOULD. 

brilliant  skins  and  crimson  belts,  a  thanksgiving  offering 
to  the  great  Manitou,  the  ancients  assembled  in  council  to 
receive  the  pilgrims. 

"  '  My  companion,'  said  Marquette,  '  is  an  envoy  of 
France  to  discover  new  countries,  and  I  am  embassador 
from  God  to  enlighten  them  with  the  Gospel ;'  and  offer- 
ing presents,  he  begged  two  guides  for  the  morrow.  The 
wild  men  answered  courteously,  and  gave  in  return  a 
mat,  to  serve  as  a  couch  during  the  long  voyage. 

"  Behold  then,  in  1673,  on  the  10th  of  June,  the  meek, 
single-hearted,  unpretending,  illustrious  Marquette,  with 
Joliet  for  his  associate,  five  Frenchmen  as  his  companions, 
and  two  Algonquins  as  guides,  lifting  their  canoes  on 
their  backs,  and  walking  across  the  narrow  portage  that 
divides  the  Fox  River  from  the  Wisconsin.  They  reach 
the  water-shed  ;  uttering  a  special  prayer  to  the  immacu- 
late Virgin,  they  leave  the  streams  that,  flowing  onward, 
could  have  borne  their  greetings  to  the  castle  of  Quebec ; 
already  they  stand  by  the  Wisconsin.  '  The  guides  re- 
turned,' says  the  gentle  Marquette,  *  leaving  us  alone,  in 
this  unknown  land,  in  the  hands  of  Providence.' 

"  France  and  Christianity  stood  in  the  valley  of  the 
Mississippi. 

"  Embarking  on  the  broad  Wisconsin,  the  discoverers 
as  they  sailed  west  went  solitarily  down  the  stream,  be- 
tween alternate  prairies  and  hill-sides,  beholding  neither 
man  nor  the  wonted  beasts  of  the  forests.  No  sound  broke 
the  appalling  silence,  but  the  ripple  of  their  canoe  and 
the  lowing  of  the  buffalo.  In  seven  days  '  they  entered 
happily  the  Great  River  with  a  joy  that  could  not  be  ex- 
pressed ;'  and  the  two  birch-bark  canoes,  raising  their 
happy  sails  under  new  skies  and  to  unknown  breezes, 
floated  down  the  calm  magnificence  of  the  ocean  stream 
over  the  broad,  clear  sand-bars,  the  resort  of  innumerable 
water-fowl ;  gliding  past  islets  that  swelled  from  the  bosom 
of  the  stream,  with  their  tufts  of  massive  thickets,  and 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  1 1 

between  the  wide  plains  of  Illinois  and  Iowa,  all  garlanded 
with  majestic  forests,  or  checkered  by  island  groves  and 
the  open  vastness  of  the  prairie. 

"  About  sixty  leagues  below  the  mouth  of  the  Wiscon- 
sin, the  western  bank  of  the  Mississippi  bore  on  its  sands 
the  trail  of  men ;  a  little  foot-path  was  discerned  leading 
into  a  beautiful  prairie,  and,  leaving  the  canoes,  Joliet 
and  Marquette  resolved  alone  to  brave  a  meeting  with  the 
savages.  After  walking  six  miles  they  beheld  a  village 
on  the  banks  of  a  river,  and  two  others  on  a  slope  at  a 
distance  of  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  first.  The  river 
was  the  Meu-in-gou-e-na,  or  Moingona,  of  which  we  have 
corrupted  the  name  into  Des  Moines.  Marquette  and 
Joliet  were  the  first  white  men  who  trod  the  soil  of  Iowa. 
Commending  themselves  to  Grod,  they  uttered  a  loud  cry. 
The  Indians  hear ;  four  old  men  advance  slowly  to  meet 
them,  bearing  the  peace-pipe,  brilliant  with  many-colored 
plumes. 

"  I  We  are  Illinois,'  said  they  ;  that  is,  when  translated, 
*  we  are  men ;'  and  they  offered  the  calumet.  An  aged 
chief  received  them  at  his  cabin  with  upraised  hands,  ex- 
claiming, 'How  beautiful  is  the  sun,  Frenchman,  when 
thou  comest  to  visit  us  !  Our  whole  village  awaits  thee ; 
thou  shalt  enter  in  peace  into  all  our  dwellings.' 

"  At  the  great  council,  Marquette  published  to  them 
the  one  true  Grod,  their  Creator.  He  spoke  also  of  the 
great  captain  of  the  French,  the  governor  of  Canada,  who 
had  chastised  the  Five  Nations  and  commanded  peace ; 
and  he  questioned  them  respecting  the  Mississippi,  and 
the  tribes  that  possessed  its  banks.  For  the  messengers 
who  announced  the  subjection  of  the  Iroquois,  a  magnifi- 
cent festival  was  prepared  of  hominy  and  fish,  and  the 
choicest  viands  from  the  prairies. 

"  After  six  days'  festivities  among  these  wild  people, 
the  little  band  proceeded  onward.  'I  did  not  fear  death,' 
said  Marquette ;  '  I  should  have  esteemed  it  the  greatest 
happiness  to  have  died  for  the  glory  of  Grod,' 


12  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

"  They  passed  the  perpendicular  rocks,  which  wore  the 
appearance  of  monsters ;  they  heard  at  a  distance  the  noise 
of  the  waters  of  the  Missouri,  known  to  them  hy  its  Al- 
gonquin name  of  Pekitanoni ;  and  when  they  came  to  the 
most  beautiful  confluence  of  rivers  in  the  world,  where 
the  swifter  Missouri  rushes  like  a  conqueror  into  the 
calmer  Mississippi,  dragging  it,  as  it  were,  hastily  to  the 
sea,  the  good  Marquette  resolved  in  his  heart  one  day  to 
ascend  the  mighty  river  to  its  source;  to  cross  the  ridge 
that  divides  the  oceans,  and,  descending  a  westerly  flow- 
ing stream,' to  publish  the  Gospel  to  all  the  people  of  this 
New  World. 

"  In  a  little  less  than  forty  leagues  the  canoes  floated 
past  the  Ohio,  which  was  then  and  long  afterward  called 
the  Wabash.  Its  banks  were  tenanted  by  numerous  vil- 
lages of  the  peaceful  Shawnees,  who  quailed  under  the 
incursions  of  the  Iroquois. 

"The  thick  canes  began  to  appear  so  close  and  strong 
that  the  buffalo  could  not  break  through  them,  and  the 
insects  became  intolerable.  The  prairies  vanished,  and 
forests  of  white  wood,  admirable  for  their  vastness  and 
height,  crowded  even  to  the  skirts  of  the  pebbly  shore. 
It  was  also  observed  that,  in  the  land  of  the  Chickasaws, 
the  Indians  had  guns. 

"They  reached  the  village  of  Mitchigamea,  in  a  region 
which  had  not  been  visited  by  Europeans  since  the  days 
of  De  Soto.  '  Now,'  thought  Marquette,  '  we  must  indeed 
ask  the  aid  of  the  Virgin.  Armed  with  bows  and  arrows, 
with  clubs,  axes,  and  bucklers,  amid  continual  whoops, 
the  natives,  bent  on  war,  embarked  in  vast  canoes  made 
out  of  the  trunks  of  hollow  trees ;  but  at  the  sight  of  the 
mysterious  peace-pipe  held  aloft,  Grod  touched  the  hearts 
of  the  old  men,  who  checked  the  impetuosity  of  the 
young  ;  and,  throwing  their  bows  and  quivers  into  the 
canoes  as  a  token  of  peace,  they  prepared  a  hospitable 
welcome.' 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  13 

"  Thus  had  the  travelers  descended  below  the  entrance 
of  the  Arkansas  to  the  genial  climes  which  have  scarcely 
any  winter  but  rains,  to  the  vicinity  of  the  Gulf  of  Mex- 
ico, and  to  tribes  of  Indians  who  had  obtained  arms  by 
traffic  with  the  Spaniards  or  with  Virginia. 

"  So,  having  spoken  of  God,  and  the  mysteries  of  the 
Catholic  faith — having  become  certain  that  the  Father 
of  Rivers  went  not  to  the  ocean,  east  of  Florida,  nor  yet 
to  the  Gulf  of  California,  Marquette  and  Joliet  left  Ar- 
kansea  and  ascended  the  Mississippi. 

"At  the  thirty-eighth  degree  of  latitude  they  entered 
the  River  Illinois,  and  discovered  a  country  without  its 
equal  for  the  fertility  of  its  beautiful  prairies,  covered  with 
buffaloes  and  stags — for  the  loveliness  of  its  rivulets,  and 
the  prodigal  abundance  of  wild  ducks  and  swans,  and  of 
a  species  of  parrot  and  wild  turkeys.  The  tribe  of  In- 
dians that  tenanted  its  banks  entreated  Marquette  to  come 
and  reside  among  them.  One  of  their  chiefs,  with  their 
young  men,  conducted  the  party  by  way  of  Chicago  to 
Lake  Michigan ;  and  before  the  end  of  September  all  were 
safe  in  Green  Bay. 

"  Joliet  returned  to  Quebec  to  announce  the  discovery, 
the  fame  of  which,  through  Talon,  quickened  the  ambi- 
tion of  Colbert.  The  unaspiring  Marquette  remained  to 
preach  the  Gospel  to  the  Miamis,  who  dwelt  in  the  north 
of  Illinois,  round  Chicago.  Two  years  afterward,  sailing 
from  Chicago  to  Mackinaw,  he  entered  a  little  river  in 
Michigan.  Erecting  an  altar,  he  said  mass  according  to 
the  ritual  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  then  desired  the 
men  who  had  conducted  his  canoe  to  leave  him  alone  for 
half  an  hour. 

"  At  the  end  of  the  time  they  went  to  seek  him,  but  he 
was  no  more.  The  good  missionary-discoverer  of  a  world 
had  fallen  asleep  on  the  margin  of  the  stream  that  bears 
his  name.  Near  its  mouth  the  canoe-men  dug  his  grave 
in  the  sand.     Ever  after,  the  forest-rangers,  if  in  danger 


14  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

on  Lake  Michigan,  would  invoke  his  name.     The  people 
of  the  "West  will  huild  his  monument." 

Thus  much  of  Father  Marquette  ;  a  short  human  life  ; 
but  how  full,  how  beautiful,  how  complete  and  perfect ! 
Do  you  not  see  a  ray  of  heavenly  light  shine  through  that 
misty,  blood-stained  valley  of  the  Mississippi  ?  Lower 
down  on  the  Mississippi  I  shall  tell  you  of  Ferdinand  de 
Soto. 

Mississippi,  October  16th. 

Cold  and  chilly;  but  those  stately  hills,  which  rise 
higher  and  higher  on  each  side  the  river,  covered  with 
forests  of  oak  now  brilliant  in  their  golden-brown  array 
beneath  the  autumnal  heaven,  and  those  prairies  with 
their  infinite  stretches  of  view,  afford  a  spectacle  forever 
changing  and  forever  beautiful.  And  then  all  is  so 
young,  so  new,  all  as  yet  virgin  soil !  Here  and  there, 
at  the  foot  of  the  hills,  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  has  the 
settler  built  his  little  log-house,  plowed  up  a  little  field 
in  which  he  has  now  just  reaped  his  maize.  The  air  is 
gray,  but  altogether  calm.  We  proceed  very  leisurely, 
because  the  water  is  low  at  this  time  of  the  year,  and  has 
many  shallows ;  at  times  it  is  narrow,  and  then  again  it 
is  of  great  width,  dotted  over  with  many  islands,  both 
large  and  small.  These  islands  are  full  of  wild  vines, 
which  have  thrown  themselves  in  festoons  among  the 
trees,  now  for  the  most  part  leafless,  though  the  wild  vines 
are  yet  green. 

We  are  sailing  between  Wisconsin  on  the  right  and 
Iowa  on  the  left.  We  have  just  passed  the  mouth  of  the 
Wisconsin  River,  by  which  Father  Marquette  entered  the 
Mississippi.  How  well  I  understand  his  feelings  on  the 
discovery  of  the  Great  River !  I  feel  myself  here,  two 
hundred  years  later,  almost  as  happy  as  he  was,  because 
I  too  am  alone,  and  am  on  a  journey  of  discovery,  although 
of  another  kind.  The  Wisconsin  flows  into  the  Mississippi 
between  shores  overgrown  with  wood,  and  presents  a  beau- 
tiful idyll ian  scene. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  iq 

We  shall  to-morrow  enter  upon  a  wilder  region  and 
among  the  Indians.     If  the  weather  is  only  not  too  cold ! 

Evening.  It  seems  as  if  it  would  clear  up ;  the  sun 
has  set  and  the  moon  risen,  and  the  moon  seems  to  dissi- 
pate the  clouds.  At  sunset  the  Menomonie  put  to  land 
to  take  in  fuel.  It  was  on  the  Iowa  bank  of  the  river.  I 
went  on  shore  with  Mr.  Sibley.  A  newly-erected  log- 
house  stood  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  about  fifty  paces  from 
the  river ;  we  went  into  the  house,  and  were  met  by  a 
handsome  young  wife,  with  a  nice  little  plump  lad,  a 
baby,-  in  her  arms  ;  her  husband  was  out  in  the  forest. 
They  had  been  at  the  place  merely  a  few  months,  but  were 
satisfied,  and  hopeful  of  doing  well  there.  Two  fat  cows 
with  bells  were  grazing  in  the  meadow,  without  any 
tether.  Every  thing  within  the  house  was  neat  and  in 
order,  and  indicated  a  degree  of  comfort.  I  saw  some 
books  on  a  shelf;  these  were  the  Bible,  prayer-books, 
and  American  reading-books,  containing  selections  from 
English  and  American  literature,  both  verse  and  prose. 
The  young  wife  talked  sensibly  and  calmly  about  their 
life  and  condition  as  settlers  in  the  West.  When  we  left 
the  house,  and  I  saw  her  standing  in  the  door- way  with 
her  beautiful  child  in  her  arms,  she  presented  a  picture 
in  the  soft  glow  of  the  Western  heaven,  a  lovely  picture 
of  the  new  life  of  the  West. 

That  young,  strong,  earnest  mother,  with  her  child  on 
her  arm,  that  little  dwelling,  protected  by  the  husband, 
who  cherished  in  himself  the  noblest  treasures  of  thought 
and  of  love — behold  in  these  the  germ  which,  by  degrees, 
will  occupy  the  wilderness,  and  cause  it  to  blossom  as  the 
rose. 

16th.  A  glorious  morning,  as  warm  as  summer  !  It 
rained  in  the  night,  but  cleared  up  in  the  morning  ;  those 
dense,  dark  masses  of  cloud  were  penetrated,  rent  asunder 
by  the  flashing  sunbeams ;  and  bold,  abrupt  shadows, 
and  heavenly  lights  played  among  the  yet  bolder,  more 


16  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

craggy,  and  more  picturesque  hills.  What  an  animated 
scene  it  was  !  and  I  was  once  more  alone  with  America, 
with  my  beloved,  my  great  and  beautiful  sister,  with  the 
sibyl  at  whose  knee  I  sat  listening  and  glancing  up  to 
her  with  looks  full  of  love.  Oh  what  did  she  not  com- 
municate to  me  that  day,  that  morning  full  of  inspiration, 
as  amid  her  tears  she  drank  in  the  heavenly  light,  and 
flung  those  dark  shadows,  like  a  veil,  back  from  her  coun- 
tenance, that  it  might  be  only  the  more  fully  illumined 
by  the  Divine  light !     Never  shall  I  forget  that  morning ! 

They  came  again  and  again,  during  the  morning,  those 
dark  clouds,  spreading  night  over  those  deep  abysses  ;  but 
again  they  yielded,  again  they  gave  place  to  the  sun,  which 
finally  prevailed,  alone,  triumphant,  and  shone  over  the 
Mississippi  and  its  world  in  the  most  beautiful  summer 
splendor;  and  the  inner  light  in  my  soul  conversed  with 
the  outward  light.     It  was  glorious ! 

The  further  we  advanced,  the  more  strangely  and  fan- 
tastically were  the  cliffs  on  the  shore  splintered  and  riven, 
representing  the  most  astonishing  imagery.  Half  way  up, 
probably  four  or  five  hundred  feet  above  the  river,  these 
hills  were  covered  with  wood  now  golden  with  the  hue  of 
autumn,  and  above  that,  rising,  as  if  directly  out  of  it, 
naked,  ruin-like  crags,  of  rich  red  brown,  representing 
fortifications,  towers,  half-demolished  walls,  as  of  ancient, 
magnificent  strongholds  and  castles.  The  castle  ruins  of 
the  Rhine  are  small  things  in  comparison  with  these  gi- 
gantic remains  of  primeval  ages ;  when  men  were  not,  but 
the  Titans  of  primeval  nature,  Megatheriums,  Mastodons, 
and  Ichthyosaurians  rose  up  from  the  waters,  and  wan- 
dered alone  over  the  earth. 

It  was  difficult  to  persuade  one's  self  that  many  of  these 
bold  pyramids  and  broken  temple-facades  had  not  really 
been  the  work  of  human  hands,  so  symmetrical,  so  archi- 
tectural were  these  colossal  erections.  I  saw  in  two  places 
human  dwellings,  built  upon  a  height ;  they  looked  like 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  17 

birds'-nests  upon  a  lofty  roof;  but  I  was  glad  to  see  them, 
because  they  predicted  that  this  magnificent  region  will 
soon  have  inhabitants,  and  this  temple  of  nature  worship- 
ers in  thankful  and  intelligent  human  hearts.  The  coun- 
try on  the  other  side  of  these  precipitous  crags  is  highland, 
glorious  country,  bordering  the  prairie-land — land  for  many 
millions  of  human  beings !  Americans  will  build  upon 
these  hills  beautiful,  hospitable  homes,  and  will  here  labor, 
pray,  love,  and  enjoy.  An  ennobled  humanity  will  live 
upon  these  heights. 

Below,  in  the  river,  at  the  feet  of  the  hill-giants,  the  lit- 
tle green  islands  become  more  and  more  numerous.  All 
were  of  the  same  character ;  all  were  lovely  islands,  all  one 
tangle  of  wild  vine.  The  wild  grapes  are  small  and  sour, 
but  are  said  to  become  sweet  after  they  have  been  frosted. 
It  is  extraordinary  that  the  wild  vine  is  every  wiiere  indig- 
enous to  America.     America  is  of  a  truth  Vineland. 

I  have  heard  the  prophecy  of  a  time  and  a  land  where 
every  man  shall  sit  under  his  own  vine,  and  none  shall 
make  him  afraid ;  when  the  wolf  and  the  lamb  shall  sport 
together,  and  the  desert  shall  blossom  as  the  rose,  and  all 
in  the  name  of  the  Prince  of  Peace. 

These  hills,  spite  of  their  varieties  of  form  and  of  their 
ruin-like  crags,  have  a  general  resemblance ;  they  are  near- 
ly all  of  the  same  height,  not  exceeding  eight  or  nine  hund- 
red feet.     G-ood  republicans,  every  one  of  them ! 

Last  evening,  just  at  sunset,  I  saw  the  first  trace  of  the 
Indians  in  an  Indian  grave.  It  was  a  chest  of  bark  laid 
upon  a  couple  of  planks  supported  by  four  posts,  standing 
underneath  a  tree  golden  with  autumnal  tints.  It  is  thus 
that  the  Indians  dispose  of  their  dead,  till  the  flesh  is  dried 
off  the  bones,  when  these  are  interred  either  in  the  earth 
or  in  caves,  with  funeral  rites,  dances,  and  songs.  Thus 
a  coffin  beneath  an  autumnal  tree,  in  the  light  of  the  pale 
evening  sun,  was  the  first  token  which  I  perceived  of  this 
poor,  decaying  people. 


18  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Soon  after  we  saw  Indian  huts  on  the  banks  of  the  riv- 
er. They  are  called  by  themselves  "  tepees"  (dwellings), 
and  by  the  English  "  lodges ;"  they  resemble  a  tent  in 
form,  and  are  covered  with  buffalo  hides,  which  are  wrap- 
ped round  long  stakes,  planted  in  the  ground  in  a  circle, 
and  united  at  the  top,  where  the  smoke  passes  out  through 
an  opening  something  like  our  Laplander's  huts,  only  on 
a  larger  scale.  There  is  a  low  opening  in  the  form  of  a 
door  to  each  hut,  and  over  which  a  piece  of  buffalo  hide 
can  be  let  down  at  pleasure.  I  saw  through  the  open 
doors  the  fire  burning  on  the  floor  in  many  of  the  huts ; 
it  had  a  pleasant,  kindly  appearance.  Little  savage  chil- 
dren were  leaping  about  the  shore.  It  was  the  most  beau- 
tiful moonlight  evening. 

11th.  Sunshiny,  but  cold.  "We  have  Indian  territory 
through  the  whole  of  our  course  on  the  right ;  it  is  the 
territory  of  Minnesota,  and  we  now  see  Indians  encamped 
on  the  banks  in  larger  or  smaller  numbers.  The  men, 
standing  or  walking,  wrapped  in  their  red  or  yellow-gray 
blankets ;  the  women,  busied  at  the  fires  either  within 
or  without  the  tents,  or  carrying  their  children  on  their 
backs  in  the  yellow  blankets  in  which  they  themselves 
are  wrapped.  All  are  bareheaded,  with  their  black  locks 
hanging  down  like  horses'  tails,  or  sometimes  plaited.  A 
great  number  of  children,  boys  especially,  leap  about  shout- 
ing on  the  shores.  We  proceeded  very  slowly,  and  stuck 
fast  on  the  shallows  continually  as  we  wound  among  the 
islands.  In  the  mean  time,  little  canoes  of  Indians  glided 
quickly,  and,  as  it  were,  shyly  hither  and  thither  along 
the  shores  and  the  islands,  the  people  seeming  to  be  look- 
ing for  something  among  the  bushes.  They  appeared, 
for  the  most  part,  to  be  women  in  the  boats  ;  but  it  is  not 
easy  to  distinguish  a  man  from  a  woman,  as  they  sit  there 
wrapped  in  their  blankets,  with  their  bare,  unkemped 
hair.  They  were  seeking  for  wild  berries  and  herbs, 
which  they  collect  among  the  bushes.     How  savage  and 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  !9 

like  wild  beasts  they  looked  !  And  yet  it  is  very  entertain- 
ing to  see  human  beings  so  unlike  the  people  one  sees  ev- 
ery day,  so  unlike  our  own  selves ! 

The  Indians  we  see  here  are  of  the  Sioux  or  Dacotah 
nation,  still  one  of  the  most  powerful  tribes  in  the  coun- 
try, and  who,  together  with  the  Chippewas,  inhabit  the 
district  around  the  springs  of  the  Mississippi  (Minnesota). 
Each  nation  is  said  to  amount  to  twenty-five  thousand 
souls.  The  two  tribes  live  in  hostility  with  each  other ; 
but  have  lately  held,  after  some  bloody  encounters,  a 
peace  congress  at  Fort  Snelling,  where  the  American  au- 
thorities compelled  these  vengeful  people,  although  un- 
willingly, to  offer  each  other  the  hand  of  reconciliation. 

Mr.  Sibley,  who  has  lived  many  years  among  the  Sioux, 
participating  in  their  hunting  and  their  daily  life,  has  re- 
lated to  me  many  characteristic  traits  of  this  people's  life 
and  disposition.  There  is  a  certain  grandeur  about  them, 
but  it  is  founded  on  immense  pride  ;  and  their  passion  for 
revenge  is  carried  to  a  savage  and  cruel  extreme.  Mr. 
Sibley  is  also  very  fond  of  the  Indians,  and  is  said  to  be 
a  very  great  favorite  with  them.  Sometimes,  when  we 
sail  past  Indian  villages,  he  utters  a  kind  of  wild  cry, 
which  receives  an  exulting  response  from  the  shore. 

Sometimes  we  see  a  little  log-house,  with  two  or  three 
Indian  lodges  beside  it.  Such  houses  belong  to  half-blood 
Indians,  that  is  to  say,  one  whose  father  was  a  white  man 
and  mother  an  Indian,  and  these  are  his  relations  by  the 
mother's  side,  or  the  relatives  of  his  Indian  wife,  who  have 
come  to  dwell  near  him.  He  is  commonly  engaged  in 
trade,  and  is  a  link  between  the  Indian  and  European. 

"We  have  now  also  some  Indians  on  board,  a  family  of 
the  Winnebagoes,  husband,  wife,  and  daughter,  a  young 
girl  of  seventeen,  and  two  young  warriors  of  the  Sioux 
tribe,  adorned  with  fine  feathers,  and  painted  with  red  and 
yellow,  and  all  colors,  I  fancy,  so  that  they  are  splendid. 
They  remain  on  the  upper  deck,  where  I  also  remain,  on 


20  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

account  of  the  view  being  so  much  more  extensive.  The 
Winnebago  man  is  also  painted,  and  lies  on  deck,  general- 
ly on  his  stomach,  propped  on  his  elbows,  and  wrapped  in 
his  blanket.  The  wife  looks  old  and  worn  out,  but  is 
cheerful  and  talkative.  The  girl  is  tall  and  good-looking, 
but  has  heavy  features,  and  broad,  round  shoulders;  she 
is  very  shy,  and  turns  away  if  any  one  looks  at  her.  I 
saw  the  three  have  their  dinner :  they  took  a  piece  of  dark- 
colored  meat,  which  I  supposed  to  have  been  smoke-dried, 
out  of  a  bag,  and  alternately  tore  a  piece  from  it  with 
their  teeth.  I  offered  them  cakes  and  fruit,  which  I  had 
with  me;  the  wife  laughed,  and  almost  snatched  them 
from  me.  They  were  well  pleased  to  receive  them,  but 
expressed  no  thanks.  The  young  Sioux  warriors  look  like 
some  kind  of  great  cock.  They  strut  about  now  and  then, 
and  look  proud,  and  then  they  squat  themselves  down  on 
their  hams,  like  apes,  and  chatter  away  as  volubly  as  any 
two  old  gossips  ever  did.  Ail  the  men  have  noses  like  a 
hawk's  bill,  and  the  corners  of  their  mouths  are  drawn 
down,  which  gives  a  disagreeable,  scornful  expression  to 
the  countenance.  Nothing,  however,  about  them  has 
struck  me  so  much  as  their  eyes,  which  have  a  certain 
hard,  inhuman  expression.  They  seem  to  me  like  those 
of  wild  beasts,  cold,  clear,  with  a  steady,  hard,  and  almost 
cruel  glance.  One  could  fancy  that  they  had  caught 
sight  of  some  object,  some  prey  a  long  way  off  in  the  for- 
est. The  glance  is  not  deficient  in  intelligence  or  acute- 
ness,  but  it  is  deficient  in  feeling.  There  is  an  immense 
difference  between  their  eyes  and  those  of  the  negroes. 
The  former  are  a  cold  day,  the  latter  a  warm  night. 

Last  night  we  passed  through  Lake  Pepin  in  the  moon- 
light. It  is  an  extension  of  the  Mississippi,  large  enough 
to  constitute  a  lake,  surrounded  by  magnificent  hills,  which 
seem  to  inclose  it  with  their  almost  perpendicular  cliffs, 
one  among  which  is  particularly  prominent,  and  is  called 
Wenona's  Cliff,  from  a  young  Indian  girl  who  here  sang 


HOxMES  OF  THE  JSEW  WORLD.  21 

her  death-song  and  then  threw  herself  into  the  waters 
below,  preferring  death  to  marriage  with  a  young  man 
whom  she  did  not  love. 

Late  last  evening  I  noticed  a  tall  Indian  who  was  stand- 
ing with  his  arms  crossed,  wrapped  in  his  blanket,  under 
a  large  tree.  He  stood  as  immovable  as  if  he  had  grown 
into  the  tree  against  the  boll  of  which  he  leaned.  He 
looked  very  stately.  All  at  once  he  gave  a  leap  forward, 
and,  uttering  a  shrill  cry,  bounded  down  to  the  shore;  and 
then  I  saw,  at  no  great  distance,  an  encampment  of  about 
twenty  huts  in  the  forest  near  the  river,  where  fires  were 
burning,  and  there  seemed  to  be  a  throng  of  people.  Along 
the  shore  lay  a  considerable  number  of  small  canoes,  and 
I  imagined  that  the  warning  cry  of  the  man  had  reference 
to  these,  for  when  our  steamer  swung  past  the  place,  for 
it  was  at  a  bend  of  the  river  where  the  camp  stood,  it  oc- 
casioned a  sort  of  earthquake  to  those  little  boats,  which 
were  hurled  like  nut-shells  one  against  another,  and  on 
toward  the  shore.  The  people  who  were  seated  in  the 
boats  leaped  upon  the  shore,  others  came  running  from  the 
huts  down  to  the  boats ;  the  whole  encampment  was  in 
motion ;  there  was  a  yelling  and  a  barking  both  of  men 
and  dogs,  and  shrill  cries  which  were  heard  long  after  the 
Menomonie  had  shot  past  on  her  foaming  career.  The 
camp,  with  its  fires,  its  huts,  and  its  people,  was  a  most 
wild  and  animated  scene. 

At  another  place,  during  the  day,  we  saw  a  large,  pale 
red  stone  standing  on  a  plain  near  the  river.  I  was  told 
that  this  stone,  and  all  large  stones  of  this  kind,  are  re- 
garded as  sacred  by  the  Indians,  who  swear  by  them,  and 
around  which  they  hold  their  councils,  believing  that  they 
are  the  abiding-place  of  a  divinity. 

In  the  afternoon  we  shall  reach  St.  Paul's,  the  goal  of 
our  journey,  and  the  most  northern  town  on  the  Missis- 
sippi. I  am  sorry  to  reach  it  so  soon ;  I  should  have  liked 
this  voyage  up  the  Mississippi  to  have  lasted  eight  days 


22  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

at  least.  It  amuses  and  interests  me  indescribably.  These 
new  shores,  so  new  in  every  way,  with  their  perpetually 
varying  scenes ;  that  wild  people,  with  their  camps,  their 
fires,  boats,  their  peculiar  manners  and  cries — it  is  a  con- 
tinual refreshment  to  me.  And  to  this  must  be  added 
that  I  am  able  to  enjoy  it  in  peace  and  freedom,  from  the 
excellent  arrangement  of  the  American  steam-boats  for 
their  passengers.  They  are  commonly  three-decked — the 
middle  deck  being  principally  occupied  by  the  passengers 
who  like  to  be  comfortable.  Round  this  deck  runs  a  broad 
gallery  or  piazza,  roofed  in  by  the  upper  deck,  within 
which  are  ranged  the  passengers'  cabins,  side  by  side,  all 
round  the  vessel.  Each  cabin  has  a  door,  in  which  is  a 
window  opening  into  the  gallery,  so  that  one  can  either 
enter  the  gallery  this  way,  or  enjoy  the  scenery  of  the 
shore  from  the  cabin  itself;  it  has  also  another  door,  which 
opens  into  the  saloon.  The  saloon  aft  is  always  appro- 
priated to  the  ladies,  and  around  this  are  their  cabins ;  the 
second  great  saloon  also,  used  for  meals,  is  the  assembling- 
place  of  the  gentlemen.  Each  little  apartment,  called  a 
state-room,  has  commonly  two  berths  in  it,  the  one  above 
the  other;  but  if  the  steamer  is  not  much  crowded,  one 
can  easily  obtain  a  cabin  entirely  to  one's  self.  These 
apartments  are  always  painted  white,  and  are  neat,  light, 
and  charming;  one  could  remain  in  them  for  days  with 
the  utmost  pleasure.  The  table  is  generally  well  and  am- 
ply supplied;  and  the  fares,  comparatively  speaking,  are 
low.  Thus,  for  instance,  I  pay  for  the  voyage  from  Ga- 
lena to  St.  Paul's  only  six  dollars,  which  seems  to  me  quite 
too  little  in  comparison  with  all  the  good  things  that  I 
enjoy.  I  have  a  charming  little  "  state-room"  to  myself, 
and  the  few  upper-class  passengers  are  not  of  the  cate- 
chising order.  One  of  them,  Mr.  Sibley,  is  a  clever,  kind 
man,  and  extremely  interesting  to  me  from  his  knowledge 
of  the  people  of  this  region,  and  their  circumstances.  There 
are  also  some  emigrant  families  who  are  on  their  way  to 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  23 

settle  on  the  banks  of  the  River  St.  Croix  and  Stillwater, 
who  do  not  belong  to  what  are  called  the  M  better  class," 
although  they  rank  with  such — a  couple  of  ladies  who 
smoke  meerschaum-pipes  now  and  then — and,  in  partic- 
ular, there  are  two  half-grown  girls,  who  are  considerably 
in  my  way  sometimes — especially  one  of  them,  a  tall, 
awkward  girl  in  a  fiery-red,  brick-colored  dress,  with  fiery- 
red  hair  as  rough  as  a  besom,  and  eyes  that  squint,  and 
who,  when  she  comes  out,  sets  herself  to  stare  at  me  with 
her  arms  crossed,  her  mouth  and  eyes  wide  open,  as  if  I 
were  some  strange  Scandinavian  animal,  and  every  now 
and  then  she  rushes  up  to  me  with  some  unnecessary,  wit- 
less question.  I  regard  these  girls  as  belonging  to— the 
mythological  monsters  of  the  Great  West,  as  daughters  of 
its  giants,  and  did  not  scruple  to  cut  them  rather  short! 
Ah!  people  may  come  to  this  hemisphere  as  democratic 
as  they  will,  but  when  they  have  traveled  about  a  little 
they  will  become  aristocratic  to  a  certain  extent.  To  a 
certain  extent — but  beyond  that  I  shall  never  go,  even 
though  the  daughters  of  the  giants  become  so  numerous 
as  to  shut  out  my  view.  And  this  brick-colored,  fool- 
hardy girl  would — of  this  I  am  certain — with  a  few  kind 
and  intelligent  words,  assume  a  different  mode  of  behav- 
ior, and,  if  I  were  to  be  any  length  of  time  with  her,  she 
and  I  should  become  good  friends.  And  there  is  in  one 
of  these  emigrant  families  an  old  grandmother,  and  yet 
not  so  very  old  after  all,  who  is  so  full  of  anxiety,  so  qui- 
etly active,  and  so  thoughtful  for  every  one  who  belongs 
to  her,  and  who  is  evidently  so  kind  and  motherly  in  dis- 
position, that  one  must  willingly  take  in  good  part  all  her 
questions  and  her  ignorance  of  geography,  if  one  has  any 
thing  good  in  one's  self.  And  that  one  has  not  when  one 
gets  out  of  temper  with  the  manners  of  the  giants'  daugh- 
ter, and  wills  to  be  at  peace. 

The  captain  of  the  steamer,  Mr.  Smith,  is  an  extremely 
agreeable  and  polite  man,  who  is  my  cavalier  on  board, 
and  in  whose  vessel  the  utmost  order  prevails. 


24  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

We  see  no  longer  any  traces  of  European  cultivation  on 
shore,  nothing  hut  Indian  huts  and  encampments.  The 
shores  have  hecome  flatter  since  we  left  Lake  Pepin,  and 
the  scenery  tamer. 


LETTER    XXVII. 

St.  Paul's,  Minnesota,  October  25th. 

At  ahout  three  miles  from  St.  Paul's  we  saw  a  large 
Indian  village,  consisting  of  ahout  twenty  hide-covered 
wigwams,  with  their  ascending  columns  of  smoke.  In 
the  midst  of  these  stood  a  neat  log-house.  This  was  the 
home  which  a  Christian  missionary  had  huilt  for  himself 
among  the  savages,  and  here  he  had  estahlished  a  school 
for  the  children.  Upon  a  hill  heyond  the  village,  a  num- 
ber of  stages  were  placed  in  a  half  circle,  upon  which  rest- 
ed coffins  of  hark.  Small  white  flags  distinguished  those 
among  the  departed  who  had  been  most  recently  brought 
there.  The  village,  which  is  called  Kaposia,  and  is  one  of 
the  established  Indian  villages,  looked  animated  from  its 
women,  children,  and  dogs.  We  sped  rapidly  past  it,  for 
the  Mississippi  was  here  as  clear  and  deep  as  our  own 
Rivor  Grbtha,  and  the  next  moment,  taking  an  abrupt  turn 
to  the  left,  St.  Paul's  was  before  us,  standing  upon  a  high 
bluff  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Mississippi ;  behind  it  the 
blue  arch  of  heaven,  and  far  below  it  the  Great  River,  and 
before  it,  extending  right  and  left,  beautiful  valleys,  with 
their  verdant  hill-sides  scattered  with  wood — a  really  grand 
and  commanding  situation — affording  the  most  beautiful 
views. 

We  lay  to  at  the  lower  part  of  the  town,  whence  the 
upper  is  reached  by  successive  flights  of  steps,  exactly 
as  with  us  on  the  South  Hill  by  Mose-back  in  Stockholm. 
Indians  were  sitting  or  walking  along  the  street  which 
runs  by  the  shore.     Wrapped  in  their  long  blankets,  they 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  25 

marched  on  with  a  proud  step,  and  were  some  of  them 
stately  figures.  Just  opposite  the  steamer,  and  at  the  foot 
of  the  steps,  sat  some  young  Indians,  splendidly  adorned 
with  feathers  and  ribbons,  and  smoking  from  a  long  pipe 
which  they  handed  from  one  to  the  other,  so  that  they 
merely  smoked  a  few  whiffs  each. 

Scarcely  had  we  touched  the  shore  when  the  governor 
of  Minnesota,  Mr.  Alexander  Ramsay,  and  his  pretty  young 
wife,  came  on  board,  and  invited  me  to  take  up  my  quar- 
ters at  their  house.  And  there  I  am  now ;  happy  with 
these  kind  people,  and  with  them  I  make  excursions  into 
the  neighborhood.  The  town  is  one  of  the  youngest  in- 
fants of  the  Great  West,  scarcely  eighteen  months  old,  and 
yet  it  has  in  this  short  time  increased  to  a  population  of 
two  thousand  persons,  and  in  a  very  few  years  it  will  cer- 
tainly be  possessed  of  twenty-two  thousand,  for  its  situa- 
tion is  as  remarkable  for  beauty  and  healthiness  as  it  is 
advantageous  for  trade.  Here  the  Indians  come  with  their 
furs  from  that  immense  country  lying  between  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  the  Missouri,  the  western  boundary  of  Minne- 
sota, and  the  forests  still  undespoiled  of  their  primeval 
wealth,  and  the  rivers  and  lakes  abounding  in  fish,  offer 
their  inexhaustible  resources,  while  the  great  Mississippi 
offords  the  means  of  their  conveyance  to  the  commercial 
markets  of  the  world,  flowing,  as  it  does,  through  the  whole 
of  Central  America  down  to  New  Orleans.  Hence  it  is 
that  several  traders  here  have  already  acquired  consider- 
able wealth,  while  others  are  coming  hither  more  and 
more,  and  they  are  building  houses  as  fast  as  they  can. 

As  yet,  however,  the  town  is  but  in  its  infancy,  and 
people  manage  with  such  dwellings  as  they  can  get.  The 
drawing-room  at  G-overnor  Ramsay's  house  is  also  his 
office,  and  Indians  and  work-people,  and  ladies  and  gen- 
tlemen, are  all  alike  admitted.  In  the  mean  time,  Mr. 
Ramsay  is  building  himself  a  handsome,  spacious  house, 
upon  a  hill,  a  little  out  of  the  city,  with  beautiful  trees 

Vol.  II.— B 


26  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

around  it,  and  commanding  a  grand  view  over  the  river. 
If  I  were  to  live  on  the  Mississippi,  I  would  live  here.  It 
is  a  hilly  region,  and  on  all  hands  extend  beautiful  and 
varying  landscapes  ;  and  all  abounds  with  such  youthful 
and  fresh  life. 

The  city  is  thronged  with  Indians.  The  men,  for  the 
most  part,  go  about  grandly  ornamented,  and  with  naked 
hatchets,  the  shafts  of  which  serve  them  as  pipes.  They 
paint  themselves  so  utterly  without  any  taste  that  it  is 
incredible.  Sometimes  one  half  of  the  countenance  will 
be  painted  of  a  cinnamon-red,  striped  and  in  blotches,  and 
the  other  half  with  yellow  ditto,  as  well  as  all  other  sorts 
of  fancies,  in  green,  and  blue,  and  black,  without  the 
slightest  regard  to  beauty  that  I  can  discover.  Here  comes 
an  Indian  who  has  painted  a  great  red  spot  in  the  middle 
of  his  nose ;  here  another  who  has  painted  the  whole  of 
his  forehead  in  small  lines  of  yellow  and  black ;  there  a 
third  with  coal-black  rings  round  his  eyes.  All  have  ea- 
gles' or  cocks'  feathers  in  their  hair,  for  the  most  part 
colored,  or  with  scarlet  tassels  of  worsted  at  the  ends. 
The  hair  is  cut  short  on  the  forehead,  and  for  the  rest 
hangs  in  elf-locks  or  in  plaits  on  the  shoulders,  both  of 
men  and  women.  The  women  are  less  painted,  and  with 
better  taste  than  the  men,  generally  with  merely  one 
deep  red  little  spot  in  the  middle  of  the  cheeks,  and  the 
parting  of  the  hair  on  the  forehead  is  died  purple.  I  like 
their  appearance  better  than  that  of  the  men.  They  have 
a  kind  smile,  and  often  a  very  -kind  expression  ;  as  well 
as  a  something  in  the  glance  which  is  much  more  human ; 
but  they  are  evidently  merely  their  husbands'  beasts  of 
burden.  There  goes  an  Indian  with  his  proud  step,  bear- 
ing aloft  his  plumed  head.  He  carries  only  his  pipe,  and 
when  he  is  on  a  journey,  perhaps  a  long  staff  in  his  hand. 
After  him,  with  bowed  head  and  stooping  shoulders,  fol- 
lows his  wife,  bending  under  the  burden  which  she  bears 
on  her  back,  and  which  a  band,  passing  over  the  forehead, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  ,27 

enables  her  to  support.  Above  the  burden  peeps  forth  a 
little  round-faced  child,  with  beautiful  dark  eyes :  it  is 
her  "  papoose,"  as  these  children  are  called.  Its  little 
body  is  fastened  by  swaddling-clothes  upon  its  back  on  a 
board,  which  is  to  keep  its  body  straight ;  and  it  lives, 
and  is  fed,  and  sleeps,  and  grows,  always  fastened  to  the 
board.  When  the  child  can  walk  it  is  still  carried  for  a 
long  time  on  the  mother's  back  in  the  folds  of  her  blanket. 
Nearly  all  the  Indians  which  I  have  seen  are  of  the  Sioux 
tribe. 

Governor  Ramsay  drove  me  yesterday  to  the  Falls  of 
St.  Anthony.  They  are  some  miles  from  St.  Paul's. 
These  falls  close  the  Mississippi  to  steam-boats  and  other 
vessels.  From  these  falls  to  New  Orleans  the  distance  is 
two  thousand  two  hundred  miles.  A  little  above  the  falls 
the  river  is  again  navigable  for  two  hundred  miles,  but 
merely  for  small  vessels,  and  that  not  without  danger. 

The  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  have  no  considerable  height, 
and  strike  me  merely  as  the  cascade  of  a  great  mill-dam. 
They  fall  abruptly  over  a  stratum  of  a  tufa  rock,  which 
they  sometimes  break  and  wash  down  in  great  masses. 
The  country  around  is  neither  grand,  nor  particularly 
picturesque ;  yet  the  river  here  is  very  broad,  and  proba- 
bly from  that  cause  the  fall  and  the  hills  appear  more  in- 
considerable. The  shore  is  bordered  by  a  rich  luxuriance 
of  trees  and  shrubs,  springing  up  wildly  from  among 
piece^  of  rock,  and  the  craggy  tufa  walls  with  their  ruin- 
like forms,  which,  however,  have  nothing  grand  about 
them.  River,  falls,  country,  views,  every  thing  here  has 
more  breadth  than  grandeur. 

It  was  Father  Hennepin,  the  French  Jesuit,  who  first 
came  to  these  falls,  brought  hither  captive  by  the  Indians. 
The  Indians  called  the  falls  "  Irrara,"  or  the  Laughing 
"Water  ;  he  christened  them  St.  Anthony's.  I  prefer  the 
first  name,  as  being  characteristic  of  the  fall,  which  has 
rather  a  cheerful  than  a  dangerous  appearance,  and  the 


28  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

roar  of  which  has  nothing  terrific  in  it.  The  Mississippi 
is  a  river  of  a  joyful  temperament.  I  have  a  painting  of 
its  springs — a  present  from  Mr.  Schoolcraft — the  little  lake, 
Itaska,  in  the  northern  part  of  Minnesota.  The  little  lake 
looks  like  a  serene  heavenly  mirror  set  in  a  frame  of  pri- 
meval forest.  Northern  firs  and  pines,  maples  and  elms, 
and  other  beautiful  American  trees,  surround  the  waters 
of  this  lake  like  a  leafy  tabernacle  above  the  cradle  of  the 
infant  river.  Afar  up  in  the  distant  background  lies  that 
elevated  range  of  country,  called  by  the  French  "  Hauteur 
des  terres,"  resembling  a  lofty  plateau,  covered  with  dense 
forest,  scattered  over  with  blocks  of  granite,  and  inter- 
spersed with  a  hundred  springs  :  five  of  these  throw  them- 
selves from  different  heights  into  the  little  lake. 

When  the  infant  Mississippi  springs  forth  from  the  bo- 
som of  Itaska,  it  is  a  rapid  and  clear  little  stream,  sixteen 
feet  broad,  and  four  inches  deep.  Leaping  forward  over 
stocks  and  stones,  it  expands  itself  ninety  miles  below  its 
spring  into  Lake  Pemideji — a  lake  the  waters  of  which 
are  clear  as  crystal,  and  which  is  free  from  islands.  Here 
it  is  met  by  the  River  La  Place,  from  Assawa  Lake. 
Forty-five  miles  lower  down  it  pours  itself  down  into  Lake 
Cass,  the  terminal  point  of  Governor  Cass's  expedition  in 
1820.  When  the  Mississippi  emerges  from  this  lake,  it 
is  one  hundred  and  seventy-two  feet  broad,  and  eight  feet 
deep.  Thus  continues  it  increasing  in  width  and  depth, 
receiving  richer  and  richer  tribute  from  springs  and  riv- 
ers, now  reposing  in  clear  lakes,  abounding  in  innumera- 
ble species  of  fish,  then  speeding  onward,  between  banks 
covered  with  wild  roses,  elders,  hawthorns,  wild  rice,  wild 
plums,  and  all  kind  of  wood  fruit,  strawberries,  raspber- 
ries, cranberries,  through  forests  of  white  cedar,  pine, 
birch,  and  sugar -maple,  abounding  in  game  of  many 
kinds,  such  as  bears,  elks,  foxes,  raccoons,  martens,  bea- 
vers, and  such  like  ;  through  the  prairie  country,  the  high- 
er and  lower  full  of  bubbling  fountains — the  so-called  Un- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  29 

dine  region ;  through  tracts  of  country,  the  fertile  soil  of 
which  would  produce  luxuriant  harvests  of  corn,  of  wheat, 
potatoes,  etc.,  through  an  extent  of  three  or  four  hundred 
miles,  during  which  it  is  navigable  for  a  considerable  dis- 
tance, till  it  reaches  St.  Anthony.  Just  above  this  point, 
however,  it  has  greatly  extended  itself,  has  embraced 
many  greater  and  smaller  islands,  overgrown  with  trees 
and  wild  vines.  Immediately  above  the  falls,  it  runs  so 
shallow  over  a  vast  level  surface  of  rock  that  people  may 
cross  it  in  carriages,  as  we  did  to  my  astonishment.  At 
no  great  distance  below  the  falls  the  river  becomes  again 
navigable,  and  steamers  go  up  as  far  as  Mendota,  a  vil- 
lage at  the  outlet  of  the  St.  Peter's  River  into  the  Missis- 
sippi, somewhat  above  St.  Paul's.  From  St.  Paul's  there 
is  a  free  course  down  the  Mississippi  to  the  Grulf  of  Mex- 
ico. The  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  are  the  last  youthful  ad- 
venture of  the  Mississippi.  For  nine  hundred  miles  the 
river  flows  along  the  territory  of  Minnesota,  a  great  part 
of  which  is  wild  and  almost  unknown  country. 

But  to  return  to  the  falls  and  to  the  day  I  spent 
there. 

Immediately  below  the  largest  of  the  falls,  and  envel- 
oped in  its  spray,  as  if  by  shapes  of  mist,  lies  a  little  isl- 
and of  picturesque,  ruin- like  masses  of  stone,  crowned 
with  rich  wood — the  most  beautiful  and  the  most  striking 
feature  of  the  whole  scene.  It  is  called  the  Cataract  Isl- 
and of  the  laughing  water-fall.  It  is  also  called  "  Spirit 
Island,"  from  an  incident  which  occurred  here  some  years 
since,  and  which  I  must  relate  to  you,  because  it  is  char- 
acteristic of  the  life  of  the  Indian  woman. 

"  Some  years  ago,  a  young  hunter,  of  the  Sioux  tribe, 
set  up  his  wigwam  on  the  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  a  little 
above  St.  Anthony's  Fall.  He  had  only  one  wife,  which 
is  an  unusual  thing  with  these  gentlemen,  who  sometimes 
are  possessed  of  as  many  as  twenty ;  and  she  was  called 
Ampato  Sapa.    They^ived  happily  together  for  many  years, 


30  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

and  had  two  children,  who  played  around  their  fire,  and 
whom  they  were  glad  to  call  their  children. 

"  The  husband  was  a  successful  hunter,  and  many  fam- 
ilies, by  degrees,  assembled  around  him,  and  erected  their 
wigwams  near  his.  Wishing  to  become  still  more  closely 
connected  with  him,  they  represented  to  him  that  he  ought 
to  have  several  wives,  as  by  that  means  he  would  become 
of  more  importance,  and  might,  before  long,  be  elected 
chief  of  the  tribe. 

"  He  was  well  pleased  with  this  counsel,  and  privately 
took  a  new  wife ;  but,  in  order  to  bring  her  into  his  wig- 
wam without  displeasing  his  first  wife,  the  mother  of  his 
children,  he  said  to  her, 

"  '  Thou  knowest  that  I  never  can  love  any  other  wom- 
an so  tenderly  as  I  love  thee;  but  I  have  seen  that  the 
labor  of  taking  care  of  me  and  the  children  is  too  great 
for  thee,  and  I  have  therefore  determined  to  take  another 
wife,  who  shall  be  thy  servant;  but  thou  shalt  be  the 
principal  one  in  the  dwelling.' 

"  The  wife  was  very  much  distressed  when  she  heard 
these  words.  She  prayed  him  to  reflect  on  their  former 
affection — their  happiness  during  many  years — their  chil- 
dren. She  besought  of  him  not  to  bring  this  second  wife 
into  their  dwelling. 

"In  vain.  The  next  evening  the  husband  brought  the 
new  wife  into  his  wigwam. 

"  In  the  early  dawn  of  the  following  morning  a  death- 
song  was  heard  on  the  Mississippi.  A  young  Indian  wom- 
an sat  in  a  little  canoe  with  her  two  small  children,  and 
rowed  it  out  into  the  river  in  the  direction  of  the  falls.  It 
was  Ampato  Sapa.  She  sang  in  lamenting  tones  the  sor- 
row of  her  heart,  of  her  husband's  infidelity,  and  her  de- 
termination to  die.  Her  friends  heard  the  song,  and  saw 
her  intention,  but  too  late  to  prevent  it. 

"  Her  voice  was  soon  silenced  in  the  roar  of  the  fall. 
The  boat  paused  for  a  moment  on  ths  brink  of  the  preci- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  3j 

pice,  and  the  next  was  carried  over  it  and  vanished  in  the 
foaming  deep.  The  mother  and  her  children  were  seen 
no  more." 

The  Indians  still  believe  that  in  the  early  dawn  may 
be  heard  the  lamenting  song  deploring  the  infidelity  of 
the  husband ;  and  they  fancy  that  at  times  may  be  seen 
the  mother,  with  the  children  clasped  to  her  breast,  in  the 
misty  shapes  which  arise  from  the  fall  around  the  Spirit 
Island. 

This  incident  is  only  one  among  many  of  the  same  kind 
which  occur  every  year  among  the  Indians.  Suicide  is 
by  no  means  rare  among  their  women. 

A  gentleman  who  wished  to  contest  this  point  with  me, 
said,  that  during  the  two  years  which  he  had  lived  in  this 
region,  he  had  only  heard  of  eleven  or  twelve  such  occur- 
rences. And  quite  enough  too,  I  think  !  The  occasion  of 
suicide  is,  with  the  Indian  woman  generally,  either  that 
her  father  will  marry  her  against  her  wishes  and  inclina- 
tion, or,  when  she  is  married,  that  the  husband  takes  a 
new  wife.  Suicide,  a  fact  so  opposed  to  the  impulses  of 
a  living  creature,  seems  to  me  to  bear  strong  evidence  in 
favor  of  the  pure  feminine  nature  of  these  poor  women, 
and  shows  that  they  are  deserving  of  a  better  lot.  As 
young  girls,  their  choice  is  seldom  consulted  with  regard 
to  marriage.  The  wooer  spreads  out  before  the  girl's  fa- 
ther his  buffalo  and  beaver  skins,  he  carries  to  the  mother 
some  showy  pieces  of  cloth  and  trinkets,  and  the  girl  is 
— sold.  If  she  makes  any  opposition,  the  father  threat- 
ens to  cut  off  her  ears  and  her  nose ;  and  she,  equally  ob- 
stinate with  him,  cuts  the  matter  short  by — hanging  her- 
self; for  this  is  the  mode  of  death  which  is  generally  se- 
lected. It  is  true  that  the  desire  for  revenge  may  be  the 
mainspring  of  suicide,  and  it  is  well  known  that  the  In- 
dian women  emulate  the  men  in  cruelty  to  their  enemies 
and  war-captives;  still,* their  hard  lives  as  women  are  not 
the  less  to  be  deplored ;  and  their  strength  to  die,  rather 


32  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

than  degrade  themselves,  proves  that  these  children  of 
nature  are  more  high-minded  than  many  a  woman  in  the 
higher  ranks  of  civilization.  The  "beauties  of  the  forest 
are  prouder  and  nobler  than  are  frequently  they  of  the 
saloon.  But  true  it  is  that  their  world  is  a  weary  one, 
and  affords  them  nothing  but  the  hushand  whom  they 
must  serve,  and  the  circumscribed  dwelling  of  which  he 
is  the  master. 

We  drank  tea  on  a  considerable  island  in  the  Mississippi, 
above  the  falls,  at  a  beautiful  home,  where  I  saw  comforts 
and  cultivation,  where  I  heard  music,  saw  books  and  pic- 
tures— such  life,  in  short,  as  might  be  met  with  on  the 
banks  of  the  Hudson ;  and  how  charming  it  was  to  me ! 
Here,  too,  I  found  friends  in  its  inhabitants,  even  as  I  had 
there.  The  dwelling  had  not  been  long  on  the  island; 
and  the  island,  in  its  autumnal  attire,  looked  like  a  little 
paradise,  although  still  in  its  half-wild  state. 

As  to  describing  how  we  traveled  about,  how  we  walk- 
ed over  the  river  on  broken  trunks  of  trees  which  were 
jammed  together  by  the  stream  in  chaotic  masses,  how 
we  climbed  and  clambered  up  and  down,  among,  over, 
and  upon  stocks,  and  stones,  and  precipices,  and  sheer  de- 
scents— -"all  this  I  shall  not  attempt  to  describe,  because  it 
is  indescribable.  I  considered  many  a  passage  wholly  and 
altogether  impracticable,  until  my  conductors,  both  gen- 
tlemen and  ladies,  convinced  me  that  it  was  to  them  a 
simple  and  every-day  path.     Ugh ! 

The  day  was  cold  and  chilly,  and  for  that  reason  the 
excursion  was  more  fatiguing  to  me  than  pleasant. 

I  have  had  several  rambles  in  the  immediate  neighbor- 
hood, sometimes  alone  and  sometimes  in  company  with 
the  agreeable  Governor  Ramsay,  or  with  a  kind  clergyman 
of  this  place.  In  this  way  I  have  visited  several  small 
farmers,  most  of  them  French,  who  have  come  hither  from 
Canada.  They  all  praise  the  excellence  of  the  soil  and 
its  fertility  ;  they  were  capital  people  to  talk  with,  seem- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  33 

ed  to  be  in  a  prosperous  condition,  had  many  children,  but 
that  neatness  and  general  comfort  which  distinguish  the 
homes  of  the  Anglo-Americans  I  did  not  find  in  their 
dwellings,  but  rather  the  contrary.  On  all  sides  the  grass 
waved  over  hills  and  fields,  tall  and  of  an  autumnal  yel- 
low. There  are  not  hands  enough  here  to  mow  it.  The  soil 
is  a  rich  black  mould,  which  is  superb  for  the  growth  of 
potatoes  and  grain,  but  not  so  agreeable  for  pedestrians  in 
white  stockings  and  petticoats.  A  fine  black  dust  soils 
every  thing.  The  most  lovely  little  lakes  lie  among  the 
hills,  like  clear  mirrors  in  romantic  peace  and  beauty.  It 
is  a  perfectly  Arcadian  landscape ;  but  there  yet  lack  the 
shepherds  and  shepherdesses.  The  eastern  shore  of  the 
Mississippi,  within  Minnesota  only,  belongs  to  the  whites, 
and  their  number  here  does  not  as  yet  amount  to  more 
than  seven  thousand  souls.  The  whole  western  portion 
of  Minnesota  is  still  Indian  territory,  inhabited  principally 
by  two  great  nations,  Sioux  or  Dacotahs,  and  Chippewas, 
who  live  in  a  continual  state  of  hostility,  as  well  as  by 
some  of  the  lesser  Indian  tribes.  It  is  said  that  the  gov- 
ernment is  intending  shortly  to  purchase  the  whole  of  this 
country;  and  that  the  Indian  tribes  are  willing  to  treat, 
and  to  withdraw  themselves  to  the  other  side  of  the  Mis- 
souri River,  to  the  steppland  of  Nebraska  and  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  These  Indian  tribes  have  already  become  so 
degraded  by  their  intercourse  with  the  whites,  that  they 
value  money  and  brandy  higher  than  their  native  soil,  and 
are  ready,  like  Esau,  to  sell  their  birth-right  for  a  mess  of 
pottage.  But  that  cruel  race  which  scalps  children  and 
old  people,  and  which  degrades  women  to  beasts  of  bur- 
den, may  as  well  move  off  into  the  wilderness,  and  leave 
room  for  a  nobler  race.  There  is,  in  reality,  only  a  higher 
justice  in  it. 

October  26th.  I  went  yesterday  with  my  kind  enter- 
tainers into  the  Indian  territory,  by  Fort  Snelling,  a  for- 
tress built  by  the  Americans  here,  and  where  military  are 

B  2 


34  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

stationed,  both  infantry  and  cavalry,  to  keep  the  Indians 
in  check.  The  Indians  are  terribly  afraid  of  the  Ameri- 
cans, whom  they  call  "  the  Long  Knives,"  and  now  the 
white  settlers  are  no  longer  in  danger.  The  Indian  tribes, 
spite  of  the  American  intervention,  continue  their  bloody 
and  cruel  hostilities  among  themselves.  Not  long  since  a 
number  of  Sioux  warriors  surprised  a  Chippewa  village 
while  the  men  were  away  on  their  hunting,  and  killed 
and  scalped  sixteen  persons,  principally  women  and  chil- 
dren. Governor  Ramsay  ordered  the  ringleaders  of  this 
attack  to  be  seized  and  taken  to  prison.  They  went  with 
a  proud  step  and  the  demeanor  of  martyrs  for  some  noble 
cause. 

I  was  extremely  curious  to  see  the  inside  of  one  of 
those  tepees  or  wigwams,  the  smoke  and  fires  of  which  I 
had  so  often  seen  already ;  and  as  we  chanced  to  see, 
soon  after  entering  the  Indian  territory,  four  very  respect- 
able Indian  huts,  I  hastened  to  visit  them.  Governor 
Ramsay,  and  an  interpreter  whose  house  was  just  by,  ac- 
companied me.  I  directed  my  steps  totiie  largest  wig- 
wam ;  to  the  opening'  of  which  two  lean  dogs  were  fast- 
ened with  cords.  The  Indians  eat  their  dogs  when  other 
food  fails.  "We  opened  the  curtain  of  hide  which  repre- 
sents a  door,  but  instead  of  the  dirt  and  poverty  which  I 
expected  to  find,  I  was  greatly  surprised  to  see  a  kind  of 
rude  Oriental  luxury  and  splendor. 

The  fire  burned  in  the  middle  of  the  hut,  which  was 
large  and  well  covered  with  buffalo  skins.  Two  men, 
whose  faces  were  painted  with  red  stripes  and  devices, 
sat  by  the  fire  carving  pipes  from  a  blood-red  kind  of 
stone.  Round  the  walls  of  the  hut  sat  the  women  and 
children,  upon  cushions  very  showily  embroidered,  and 
laid  upon  white  blankets.  Some  of  them  were  painted 
with  a  brilliant  red  spot  in  the  middle  of  their  cheeks, 
the  parting  of  their  hair  being  painted  red  also.  They 
looked  really  handsome  and  full  of  animation,  with  their 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  35 

"bright  black  eyes  and  disheveled  hair,  thus  seen  in  the 
light  of  the  flickering  fire.  Besides  this,  they  were  friend- 
ly, and  seemed  amused  by  my  visit.  They  made  room 
for  me  to  sit  down  beside  them.  The  old  women  laughed 
and  chattered,  and  seemed  very  much  at  their  ease.  The 
younger  ones  were  more  grave  and  bashful.  The  men 
did  not  look  up  after  their  first  glance  at  our  entrance, 
but  continued  silently  to  work  away  at  their  pipes.  A 
great  kettle,  suspended  by  a  rope  from  the  poles  at  the 
top  of  the  hut,  hung  over  the  fire.  It  was  dinner-time. 
A.  young  woman  who  sat  on  my  right  fed  her  little  pa- 
poose, which  seemed  to  be  about  three  years  old,  and 
which  had  also  a  grand  red  spot  on  each  of  its  fat  round 
cheeks. 

"  Hoxidan  ?"  said  I,  pointing  to  the  child,  that  word 
signifying  boy. 

"  Winnona,"  replied  she,  in  a  low,  melodious  voice, 
that  word  signifying  girl. 

And  with  that  my  stock  of  Indian  words  was  exhausted. 
I  requested  by  signs  to  taste  the  soup  of  which  she  and 
the  child  were  eating,  and  she  cheerfully  handed  to  me 
her  bowl  and  spoon.  It  was  a  kind  of  thin  soup,  in  which 
beans  were  boiled,  without  salt,  and  without  the  slightest 
flavor  which  I  could  perceive.  She  then  offered  me  a 
cake  which  was  just  baked,  of  a  golden  brown,  and  which 
looked  quite  delicious.  It  was,  I  believe,  made  of  wheat- 
en  flour,  and  without  salt  also,  but  very  excellent  never- 
theless. 

The  interpreter  was  gone  out.  Gov.  Ramsay  had  also 
seated  himself.  The  Indians  filed  on  at  their  pipes  ;  the 
flames  flickered  merrily ;  the  kettle  boiled ;  the  women  ate 
or  looked  at  me,  half  reclining  or  sitting  carelessly  by  the 
fire-light.  And  I — looked  at  them.  With  inward  wonder 
I  regarded  these  beings,  women  like  myself,  with  the  spirit 
and  the  feelings  of  women,  yet  so  unlike  myself  in  their 
purpose  of  life,  in  daily  life,  in  the  whole  of  their  world! . 


36  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

I  thought  of  hard)  gray,  domestic  life,  in  the  civilized 
world,  a  home  without  love,  hedged  in  by  conventional 
opinion,  with  social  duties,  the  duty  of  seeking  for  the 
daughters  of  the  family  suitable  husbands,  otherwise  they 
would  never  leave  the  family ;  and  with  every  prospect  of 
independence,  liberty,  activity,  joy  closed,  more  rigidly 
closed  by  invisible  barriers,  than  these  wigwams  by  their 
buffalo  hides ;  a  Northern  domestic  life — such  an  one  as 
exists  in  a  vast  number  of  Northern  homes — and  I  thought 
that  that  Indian  hut  and  that  Indian  woman's  life  was 
better,  happier  as  earthly  life. 

Thus  had  I  thought  in  the  gas-lighted  drawing-rooms 
of  New  York  and  Boston,  in  the  heat  and  the  labor  of  be- 
ing polite  or  agreeable ;  of  conversation  and  congratula- 
tion; of  endeavoring  to  look  well,  to  please  and  to  be 
pleased,  and — I  thought  that  the  wigwam  of  an  Indian 
was  a  better  and  a  happier  world  than  that  of  the  draw- 
ing-room. There  they  sat  at  their  ease,  without  stays,  or 
the  anxiety  to  charm,  without  constraint  or  effort,  those 
daughters  of  the  forest !  They  knew  not  the  fret  and  the 
disquiet,  the  ennui  and  the  fatigue,  which  is  the  conse- 
quence of  a  brief  hour's  social  worry ;  they  knew  not  the 
disgust  and  the  bitterness  which  is  produced  by  little 
things,  little  vexations,  which  one  is  ashamed  to  feel,  but 
which  one  must  feel  nevertheless.  Their  world  might  be 
monotonous,  but  in  comparison  it  was  calm  and  fresh 
within  the  narrow  wigwam,  while  without  there  was  free 
space,  and  the  rustling  forest  open  to  them  with  all  its 
fresh  winds  and  odors.     Ah ! 

But  again  I  bethought  myself  of  the  Indian  women- 
bethought  me  of  their  life  and  condition ;  with  no  other 
purpose  and  no  other  prospect  in  life  than  to  serve  a  hus- 
band whom  they  have  seldom  chosen  themselves,  who 
merely  regards  them  as  servants,  or  as  a  cock  regards  the 
hens  around  him.  I  saw  the  wife  and  the  mother  humil- 
iated by  the  entrance  of  the  new  wife  into  the  husband's 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  37 

dwelling,  and  his  affection  being  turned  to  the  stranger  in 
her  sight,  and  in  the  same  home,  and  in  the  fire-light  of 
that  same  hearth  which  had  been  kindled  on  her  marriage 
day,  saw  her  despised  or  neglected  by  the  man  who  con- 
stituted her  whole  world.  Ah !  the  wigwam,  the  free 
space  of  the  forest,  had  no  longer  peace  or  breathing  room 
for  the  anguish  of  such  a  condition ;  alleviation  of  its  ago- 
ny or  its  misery  is  found  merely  in  degradation  or  death. 
Winnona's  death-song  on  the  rock  by  Lake  Pepin ;  Am- 
pato  Sapa's  death-song  on  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi, 
when  she  and  her  children  sought  for  the  peace  of  forget- 
fulness  in  their  foaming  depths ;  and  many  other  of  their 
sisters,  who  yet  to  this  day  prefer  death  to  life,  all  testify 
how  deeply  tragical  is  the  fate  of  the  Indian  woman. 

And  again  I  bethought  myself  of  love-warmed  homes  in 
the  cultivated  world,  in  the  North  as  well  as  in  the  South; 
homes  such  as  are  frequent,  and  which  become  still  more 
and  more  so  among  a  free  and  Christian  people,  where  the 
noble  woman  is  the  noble  man's  equal  in  every  thing,  in 
pleasure  and  in  need ;  where  good  parents  prepare  even 
the  daughters  of  the  house  for  a  life  of  independent  activ- 
ity and  happiness,  for  the  possession  of  a  world,  an  object 
which  is  beyond  the  circumscribed  boundary  of  the  dwell- 
ing-house, no  longer  a  buffalo-hide-enveloped  wigwam.  I 
bethought  me  of  her  right,  and  the  possibility  of  her  ac- 
quiring a  sphere  of  action  in  the  intellectual  world  which 
would  make  the  torments  of  civilized  life,  whether  small 
or  great,  seem  like  cloudlets  in  a  heaven  otherwise  bright; 
bethought  me  of  my  own  Swedish  home,  of  my  good  moth- 
er, my  quiet  room,  my  peace  and  freedom  there,  as  on  the 
maternal  bosom,  with  space  and  view  limitless  as  infinity. 
And  I  thanked  G-od  for  my  lot ! 

But  these  poor  women  here !  Three  families  resided  in 
this  wigwam ;  there  were  only  three  husbands,  but  there 
were  certainly  twelve  or  thirteen  women.  How  many 
bitter,  jealous  feelings  must  burn  in  many  a  bosom  as- 


38  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

sembled  here,  day  and  night,  around  the  same  fire,  par- 
taking of  the  same  meal,  and  with  the  same  object  in  life ! 

I  visited  the  other  wigwams  also.  Each  one  presented 
the  same  scene  with  but  little  variation.  Two  or  three 
men  by  the  fire,  several  women  sitting  or  lying  upon  blank- 
ets or  embroidered  cushions  round  the  walls  of  the  hut, 
and  occupied  with  nothing  for  the  moment.  The  men 
carved  red-stone  pipes,  which  they  sell  to  the  whites  at 
very  high  prices ;  the  work,  however,  in  this  hard  stone  is 
not  easy.  This  red  stone  is  obtained  from  quarries  situated 
far  up  the  Missouri.  I  can  not  but  admire  the  hands  of 
these  men ;  they  are  remarkably  beautiful  and  well  formed, 
and  are  evidently,  even  as  regards  the  nails,  kept  with  great 
care ;  they  are  delicate  and  slender,  resembling  rather  the 
hands  of  women  than  men. 

I  saw  in  one  wigwam  a  young  woman,  who,  as  she  sat 
with  her  rich,  unbound  hair  falling  over  her  shoulders, 
seemed  to  me  so  unusually  handsome  that  I  wished  to 
make  a  sketch  of  her.  I  also  wished  to  take  the  portraits 
of  a  couple  of  Indians,  and  requested  Grovernor  Ramsay 
to  prefer  my  request.  He  therefore,  by  means  of  the  in- 
terpreter, Mr.  Prescott,  stated  to  an  old  chief  named  Mo- 
zah-hotah  (Gray  Iron)  that  I  wished  to  take  the  likenesses 
of  all  great  men  in  this  country,  to  show  to  the  people  on 
the  other  side  of  the  great  water,  and  therefore  that  I  re- 
quested him  to  sit  to  me  a  short  time  for  that  purpose. 

The  old  chief,  who  is  said  to  be  a  good  and  respectable 
man,  looked  very  grave,  listened  to  the  proposal  attentive- 
ly, and  gave  a  sort  of  grunting  assent.  He  then  accom- 
panied us  to  the  house  of  the  interpreter,  from  the  doors 
and  windows  of  which  peeped  forth  many  little  faces  with 
their  Indian  features  and  complexion,  for  Mr.  Prescott  has 
an  Indian  wife,  and  many  children  by  her. 

I  was  soon  seated  in  the  house  with  the  old  chief  before 
me,  who  expressed  some  annoyance  because  he  was  not 
in  grand  attire,  having  merely  a  couple  of  eagle's  feath- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  39 

ers  in  his  hair,  and  not  being  so  splendidly  painted  as  he 
ought  to  have  been.  He  wore  under  his  white  woolen 
blanket  a  blue  European  surtout,  which  he  appeared  anx- 
ious to  have  also  included  in  the  portrait.  He  evidently- 
considered  this  as  something  out  of  the  common  way.  He 
seemed  a  little  uneasy  to  sit,  and  not  at  all  comfortable 
when  the  interpreter  was  out  of  the  room.  The  Indians 
universally  believe  that  a  likeness  on  paper  takes  away 
from  the  life  of  the  person  represented,  and  on  that  ac- 
count many  Indians  will  not  allow  their  portraits  to  be 
taken. 

The  young  Indian  woman  followed  the  old  chief;  she 
came  attired  in  her  wedding-dress  of  embroidered  scarlet 
woolen  stuff,  and  with  actual  cascades  of  silver  rings, 
linked  one  within  another,  and  hanging  in  clusters  from  her 
ears,  round  which  the  whole  cluster  was  fastened ;  down 
to  her  shoulders,  her  neck  and  breast  were  covered  with 
masses  of  coral,  pearls,  and  other  ornaments.  The  head 
was  bare  and  devoid  of  ornament.  She  was  so  brilliant 
and  of  such  unusual  beauty  that  she  literally  seemed  to 
light  up  the  whole  room  as  she  entered.  Her  shoulders 
were  broad  and  round,  and  her  carriage  drooping,  as  is 
usual  with  Indian  women,  who  are  early  accustomed  to 
carry  burdens  on  their  back ;  but  the  beauty  of  the  coun- 
tenance was  so  extraordinary  that  I  can  not  but  think  that 
if  such  a  face  were  to  be  seen  in  one  of  the  drawing-rooms 
of  the  fashionable  world,  it  would  there  be  regarded  as 
the  type  of  a  beauty  hitherto  unknown.  It  was  the  wild 
beauty  of  the  forest,  at  the  same  time  melancholy  and 
splendid.  The  bashful  gloom  in  those  large,  magnificent 
eyes,  shaded  by  unusually  long,  dark  eyelashes,  can  not 
be  described,  nor  yet  the  glance,  nor  the  splendid  light  of 
the  smile  which  at  times  lit  up  the  countenance  like  a 
flash,  showing  the  loveliest  white  teeth.  She  was  re- 
markably light-complexioned  for  an  Indian  ;  the  round  of 
the  chin  was  somewhat  prominent,  which  gave  rather  too 


40  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

much  breadth  to  her  face,  but  her  profile  was  perfect.  She 
was  quite  young,  and  had  been  married  two  years  to  a 
brave  young  warrior,  who,  I  was  told,  was  so  fond  of  her 
that  he  would  not  take  another  wife,  and  that  he  would 
not  allow  her  to  carry  heavy  burdens,  but  always  got  a 
horse  for  her  when  she  went  to  the  town.  She  is  called 
Mochpedaga-Wen,  or  Feather-cloud-woman.  A  young 
Indian  girl  who  came  with  her  was  more  painted,  but  not 
so  handsome,  and  had  those  heavy  features  and  that  heavy 
expression  which  characterize  the  Indian  women,  at  least 
those  of  this  tribe. 

I  made  a  sketch  of  Mochpedaga-Wen  in  her  bridal 
attire.  She  was  bashful,  with  downcast  eyes.  It  was 
with  a  pleasure  mingled  with  emotion  that  I  penetrated 
into  the  mysteries  of  this  countenance.  A  whole  nocturn- 
al world  lay  in  those  eyes,  the  dark  fringes  of  which  cast 
a  shadow  upon  the  cheek.  Those  eyes  glanced  downward 
into  a  depth,  dreamy, ^alm,  without  gloom,  but  at  the  same 
time  without  joy  and  without  a  future.  The  sunlight 
of  the  smile  was  like  a  sunbeam  of  a  cloudy  day.  The 
Feather-cloud  had  no  light  within  itself.  It  was  lit  up 
from  without,  and  was  splendidly  tinted  only  for  a  mo- 
ment. 

After  this  gentle  and  beautiful,  but  melancholy  image, 
I  must  introduce  to  you  the  brave  young  warrior,  and 
the  great  Sprude-bosse,  or  Dandy — "  Skonka  Shaw,"  or 
"White  Dog,"  the  husband  of  the  "Feather-cloud,"  who 
entered  duly  painted  and  in  great  pomp  of  attire,  with  a 
huge  tuft  of  feathers  helmet- wise  falling  backward  from 
the  head,  and  with  three  dark  eagles'  feathers,  with  tufts 
of  scarlet  wool,  stuck  aloft  in  his  hair,  and  with  the  marks 
of  five  green  fingers  on  his  cheeks,  to  indicate  that  he  was 
a  brave  warrior  and  had  killed  many  enemies.  He  was 
tall  and  flexible  of  form,  and  he  entered  with  a  gay,  an- 
imated aspect,  amid  a  torrent  of  words,  equally  fluent  with 
what  I  had  heard  in  the  House  of  Representatives  at  Wash- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  4! 

inffton,  and  of  which  I  understood — about  as  much.  His 
countenance  had  the  same  characteristics  that  I  had  al- 
ready observed  among  the  Indians,  the  hawk  nose,  broad  at 
the  base,  clear,  acute,  but  cold  eyes,  which  opened  square, 
with  a  wild-beast-like  glance ;  the  mouth  unpleasing,  and 
for  the  rest,  the  features  regular  and  keen.  I  made  a 
sketch  also  of  him ;  his  countenance  was  much  painted 
with  red,  and  yellow,  and  green;  there  was  nothing  shy 
about  it,  and  it  looked  very  warlike.  But  that  which  won 
for  him  favor  in  my  eyes  was  that  he  was  a  good  husband 
and  loved  his  beautiful  Feather-cloud. 

Mrs.  Ramsay,  in  the  mean  time,  had  gone  out  with  her, 
and  put  on  her  costume.  And  as  she  was  very  pretty — 
of  the  pure  Quaker  style  of  beauty  —  she  appeared  real- 
ly splendidly  handsome  in  that  showy  costume,  and  the 
Feather-cloud  seemed  to  have  great  pleasure  in  seeing  her 
in  it.  But  the  handsome  young  white  lady  had  not,  after 
all,  the  wonderful,  mystic  beauty  of  Feather-cloud.  There 
was  between  them  the  difference  of  the  primeval  forest 
and  the  drawing-room. 

I  observed  in  the  conversations  of  these  Indians  many 
of  those  sounds  and  intonations  which  struck  me  as  pe- 
culiar among  the  American  people ;  in  particular,  there 
were  those  nasal  tones,  and  that  piping,  singing,  or  la- 
menting sound  which  has  often  annoyed  me  in  the  ladies 
Probably  these  sounds  may  have  been  acquired  by  the 
earliest  colonists  during  their  intercourse  with  the  Indians, 
and  thus  have  been  continued. 

While  I  am  with  the  Indians  I  must  tell  you  of  a  cus- 
tom among  them  which  appears  to  me  singular ;  it  refers 
to  their  peculiar  names  and  their  mode  of  acquiring  them. 
When  the  Indians,  either  man  or  woman,  arrive  at  ma- 
turity, they  go  out  into  some  solitary  place,  and  remain 
there  fasting  for  several  days.  They  believe  that  the 
Spirit  which  has  especial  guardianship  over  them  will 
then  reveal  itself;    and  that  which  during  these  days 


42  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

strongly  attracts  their  sight  or  affects  their  imagination, 
is  regarded  as  the  image  or  token  by  means  of  which  their 
guardian  angel  reveals  itself  to  them,  and  they  adopt  a 
name  derived  from  that  object  or  token.  When  they  have 
obtained  the  wished-for  revelation,  they  return  to  their 
family,  but  under  a  kind  of  higher  guidance,  and  with  a 
greater  right  of  self-government. 

From  a  list  of  Indian  names  I  select  the  following  : 

Horn-point ;  Round-wind  ;  Stand  -  and  -  look  -  out ;  The 
Cloud-  that  -goes-  aside  ;  Iron -toe;  Seek  -  the  -  sun  ;  Iron- 
flash;  Red-bottle;  White-spindle;  Black-dog;  Two-feath- 
ers-of-honor ;  Gray-grass;  Bushy- tail;  Thunder-face;  Gro- 
on-the-burning-sod ;   Spirits-of-the-dead. 

And  among  the  female  names,  these : 

Keep-the-fire  ;  Spiritual- woman ;  Second  -  daughter  -  of- 
the-house  ;  Blue-bird,  and  so  on. 

Feather-cloud  must  have  looked  especially  toward  heav- 
en to  find  her  guardian  angel.  May  it  conduct  her  light- 
ly along  her  earthly  pilgrimage,  and  preserve  her  from 
the  fate  of  Winnona  and  Ampota  Sapa !  But — those  deep 
eyes,  full  of  the  spirit  of  night,  seem  to  me  prophetic  of 
the  death-song. 

T£he  death-song  consists  of  unmusical  tones,  almost  de- 
void of  melody,  by  which  the  Indians,  male  or  female,  re- 
late the  cause  of  their  death,  accuse  their  enemies,  or 
praise  themselves. 

They  believe  that  the  spirit  after  death  still  lingers  for 
a  time  near  those  earthly  precincts  which  they  have  just 
left,  and  that  they  continue  to  be  still,  in  a  certain  man- 
ner, akin  to  earth.  Therefore  are  maize  and  other  provi- 
sions placed  at  the  foot  of  the  corpse  during  the  time  that 
it  lies  on  its  elevated  scaffold,  exposed  to  the  influence  of 
light  and  air.  The  deceased  has  not  as  yet  entered  into 
the  realm  of  spirits  ;  but  when  the  flesh  is  withered  from 
the  bones,  these  are  buried  with  songs  and  dances.  Then 
has  the  departed  spirit  arrived  in  the  land  of  spirits. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  43 

"  We  believe,"  said  a  celebrated  Indian  chief  to  one  of 
my  friends,  "that  when  the  soul  leaves  the  body,  it  lin- 
gers for  some  time  before  it  can  be  separated  from  its  for- 
mer circumstances,  during  which  it  wanders  over  vast 
plains  in  the  clear,  cold  moonlight.  Finally,  it  arrives  at 
a  great  chasm  in  the  earth,  on  the  other  side  of  which 
lies  the  land  of  the  blessed,  where  there  is  eternal  spring, 
and  rich  hunting-grounds  abundantly  supplied  with  game. 
There  is,  however,  no  other  means  of  crossing  this  gulf 
excepting  by  a  barked  pine-tree,  which  is  smooth  and 
slippery.  Over  this  the  spirits  must  pass  if  they  would 
reach  the  land  of  bliss.  Such  spirits  as  have  lived  purely 
and  well  in  this  world  are  able  to  pass  this  narrow  ^bridge 
safely,  and  safely  to  reach  those  regions  of  the  blessed. 
Such,  however,  as  have  not  done  so  can  not  pass  over 
this  smooth  tree-stem,  but  lose  their  footing  and  fall  into 
the  abyss." 

This,  for  savages,  is  not  so  very  bad  an  idea  of  retribu- 
tion after  death.  The  Indians'  estimate,  however,  of  good 
and  evil  is,  in  other  respects,  very  imperfect  and  circum- 
scribed; and  their  idea  of  reward  and  punishment  after 
death  is  merely  the  reflex  of  their  earthly  joys  and  mis- 
fortunes. 

They  believe,  as  we  do,  in  a  Spirit  of  spirits,  a  supreme 
God,  who  rules  over  every  thing  and  all  things,  and  the 
Indians  of  the  Northwest  call  him  the  "  Great  Manitou." 
He  appears  to  be  a  power  without  the  peculiar  moral  at- 
tributes. They  also  believe  in  a  number  of  lesser  Mani- 
tous,  or  divinities,  and  it  seems  to  me  that,  as  regards 
their  theology,  they  are  rather  Pantheists  than  Monotheists. 
They  behold  a  transformed  divinity  in  the  forest,  in  stones, 
in  animals,  in  every  thing  which  lives  or  which  evinces 
an  in-dwelling  power.  Manitou  is  in  the  bear  and  the 
beaver,  in  the  stone  which  emits  the  spark  of  fire,  but 
above  all,  in  the  forest  which  whispers  and  affords  protec- 
tion to  man. 


44 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 


It  seems  to  me  worthy  of  observation  that  these  Indians 
believe  that  every  animal  has  a  great  original  prototype 
or  type  from  which  it  is  descended  ;  hence  all  beavers 
are  descended  from  the  great  beaver,  which  lives  some- 
where forever  under  the  water  ;  all  bluebirds  from  the 
great  bluebird,  which  flies  invisibly  above  the  clouds  in 
the  immeasurable  heights  of  space.  The  great  beaver  is 
the  great  brother  of  all  beavers,  the  great  bluebird  is  the 
brother  and  protector  of  all  bluebirds. 

They  seek  to  propitiate  Manitou  by  gifts  and  sacrifices, 
which  are  often  bloody  and  cruel.  The  mediators  between 
themselves  and  Manitou  are  their  so-called  medicine-men  ; 
men  who,  by  means  of  the  knowledge  of  the  mysteries  of 
nature  and  the  power  of  magic,  are  considered  able  to  in- 
voke spirits,  to  avert  misfortune,  to  heal  sickness,  and 
obtain  the  fulfillment  of  human  wishes.  These  men  are 
highly  esteemed  among  the  Indians,  and  are  both  their 
priests  and  physicians. 

You  behold  at  the  fall  of  night  fires  flaming  upon  the 
prairie-hills  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  and  a  crowd 
of  Indians,  men  and  women,  assembled  around  them, 
making  the  most  extraordinary  gestures.  Let  us  approach 
nearer.  Copper- colored  men  and  women,  to  the  number 
of  about  one  hundred,  are  dancing  around,  or  rather  hop- 
ping, with  their  feet  close  together  and  their  arms  hang- 
ing straight  down,  to  the  unmelodious  music  of  a  couple 
of  small  drums  and  some  dried  gourds,  which,  being  filled 
with  small  stones,  make  a  rattling  noise  when  they  are 
shaken.  The  musicians  are  seated  upon  the  green-sward. 
The  dancing  men  are  painted  in  their  grandest,  but  yet 
most  hideous  manner,  tawdry  and  horrible ;  and  several 
women,  also,  are  plentifully  covered  with  silver  rings,  and 
with  little  silver  bells  hanging  to  their  ears  and  to  their 
moccasins,  and  which  they  shake  with  all  their  might  as 
they  hop  along. 

Every  one  has  a  little  medicine-bag  made  of  skin. 


r\. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  45 

These  are  all  medicine-men  and* women;  and  around 
them  is  a  ring  of  spectators,  men,  women,  and  children. 

After  a  couple  of  old  men  have  seated  themselves  in 
the  ring  and  talked  for  a  little  while,  a  march  commences, 
in  which  the  whole  circle  is  included,  during  which  first 
one  and  then  another  individual  steps  out  of  the  proces- 
sion, and  takes  his  stand  a  little  apart  from  the  circle.  A 
medicine-man  then,  having  blown  into  his  medicine-bag, 
springs  forward  with  a  shrill  resounding  cry,  and  holds  it 
before  the  mouth  of  one  of  the  patients  standing  in  the 
outer  circle,  who  on  that  falls  down  insensible,  and  lies  on 
the  ground  for  a  time  with  quivering  limbs.  Thus  falls 
one  after  another  of  the  assembly.  An  old  Indian  stands 
smiling  with  a  cunning  expression,  as  if  he  would  say, 
"  They'll  not  so  soon  catch  me  !"  At  the  first  application 
of  the  medicine-bag,  therefore,  he  merely  staggers  for- 
ward a  few  paces  ;  after  the  second,  bursts  into  an  hys- 
terical laugh,  and  it  is  not  until  the  third  mystical  draught 
that  he  falls  down  with  convulsed  limbs.  In  a  little 
while  the  fallen  again  rise  and  reunite  themselves  to  the 
procession,  which  is  continued  until  all  its  members  have 
gone  through  the  medicine-process,  the  unmelodious  music 
sounding  without  intermission.  The  old  men  seem  more 
amused  by  this  scene  than  the  young. 

The  medicine-dance  is  one  of  the  chief  festivities  of  the 
Indians  of  Minnesota,  and  lasts  for  several  days.  They 
have  also  other  dances,  among  which  the  war-dance  is 
most  known.  Men  alone  take  part  in  this.  They  paint 
their  faces  and  bodies  in  the  most  horrible  manner,  and 
their  dance  consists  of  the  wild  gestures  and  threatening 
demonstrations  which  they  make  against  each  other.  I 
have  seen  a  painting  of  the  scalp-dance  of  the  women, 
which  is  danced  when  the  men  return  from  war  with  the 
scalps  of  their  enemies.  These  scalps,  being  placed  on 
tall  poles,  are  held  by  women,  who,  with  their  female  com- 
peers, dance,  or  rather  hop  round,  very  much  in  the  man- 


46  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

ner  of  geese  with  their  feet  tied,  and  with  about  as  much 
grace.  The  beating  of  drums,  songs,  and  wild  cries  ac- 
company the  dance.  The  men  stand  round  with  eagles' 
feathers  in  their  hair  contemplating  this  dance,  which  is 
a  greater  delight,  both  to  their  eyes  and  their  ears,  than 
probably  any  which  the  genius  of  Bournonville  could  cre- 
ate, or  the  skill  of  Taglioni  or  Elsler  perform. 

But  I  must  yet  add  a  few  facts  regarding  the  past  and 
present  state  of  this  savage  people,  which  I  obtained  from 
trustworthy  sources,  partly  from  books,  partly  from  oral 
communications,  as  well  as  from  my  own  observations. 

When  the  Europeans  first  penetrated  that  portion  of 
America  lying  east  of  the  Mississippi,  a  great  deal  was 
said  about  vast  stretches  of  desolate  country ;  and  since  a 
more  accurate  knowledge  has  been  obtained  of  the  Indian 
tribes  from  Canada  in  the  North,  to  Florida  and  Louisiana 
in  the  South,  and  their  population  has  been  estimated,  it 
appears  that  the  whole  Indian  race,  east  of  the  Great  Riv- 
er, amounts  to  about  180,000  souls.  The  tribes  or  fam- 
ilies into  which  they  are  divided  all  greatly  resemble  each 
other  in  physiognomy  and  manners,  although  some  of 
them  are  more  warlike  and  cruel,  and  others  more  peace- 
fully disposed.  The  principal  tribes  have  lived,  for  the 
most  part,  in  a  state  of  bloody  hostility  with  each  other 
from  time  immemorial. 

Research  into  the  languages  of  the  various  Indian  tribes 
has  proved  that,  however  numerous  the  tribes  may  be, 
there  exist  but  eight  radically  distinct  languages ;  and  of 
these  five  only  are  now  spoken  by  tribes  of  eminence,  the 
other  three  having  died  out,  and  the  languages  of  the  re- 
mainder of  the  tribes  appear  to  be  dialects  of  some  one  or 
other  of  the  principal  languages.  These  languages  have 
a  definite  form  and  construction ;  they  are  affluent  in  def- 
initions, and  the  definitions  of  individual  beings,  but  are 
deficient  in  terms  for  the  general  idea.  They  indicate  a 
popular  mind  which  has  not  advanced  beyond  the  realm 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WOKLD.  47 

of  experience  into  that  of  reflection.  Thus,  for  example, 
they  have  names  for  the  various  kinds  of  oak,  but  not  for 
the  genus  oak ;  they  speak  of  a  holy  man,  but  they  have 
no  word  for  holiness;  they  could  say  our  father,  mine  or 
thy  father,  but  they  have  no  word  for  father.  There  is 
nothing  in  their  language  which  indicates  a  higher  de- 
gree of  cultivation  among  them  as  a  people  than  they  are 
at  present  in  possession  of.  They  love  to  speak  in  a  sym- 
bolical manner,  all  their  symbols  being  derived  from  the 
realm  of  nature ;  and  their  writings  and  their  art  speak 
also  by  means^of  such.  I  have  seen  a  buffalo-hide  cov- 
ered with  figures,  in  the  style  of  children's  drawings,  which 
represented  battles,  treaties  of  peace,  and  other  such  events ; 
the  sun  and  the  moon,  trees,  and  mountains,  and  rivers, 
fish  and  birds,  and  all  kinds  of  animals,  having  their  part 
in  the  delineations ;  men  and  horses,  however,  in  the  most 
distorted  proportions,  being  the  principal  actors.  I  have 
also  seen  Indian  songs  inscribed  upon  trees  and  bark  in 
similar  hieroglyphics. 

The  religious  culture  of  the  Indian  has  adopted  the 
same  symbolic  characters  derived  from  natural  objects. 
They  constitute  a  living  hieroglyphic  writing.  They  have 
no  sense  of  the  worship  of  Grod  in  spirit  and  in  truth,  or 
in  the  influence  of  love.  But  they  have  many  religious 
festivals ;  the  Indians  of  Minnesota  more  than  ten,  at  which 
they  offer  sacrifices  to  the  sun  and  the  moon,  trees,  rivers, 
stones,  serpents — nay,  indeed,  to  all  things  and  all  ani- 
mals, to  propitiate  their  spirits  or  their  divinities.  The 
festival  of  the  sun  is  celebrated  by  day,  that  of  the  moon 
by  night.  One  festival  is  for  their  weapons  of  war,  which 
they  regard  as  sacred,  or  as  being  possessed  of  an  innate 
divine  power.  At  all  these  festivals  they  have  dancing 
and  the  beating  of  drums,  as  well  as  singing  and  many 
ceremonies.  The  principal  transaction  on  these  occasions, 
however,  seems  to  be  feasting;  and  as  the  Indians  appear 
to  consider  it  a  duty  to  eat  every  thing  which  is  set  before 


48  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

them,  frequently  more  than  they  are  able,  they  are  some- 
times obliged  to  take  medicine  that  it  may  be  possible  for 
them  to  pursue  their  eating.  At  the  Feast  of  the  Spirits, 
if  the  guest  fails  to  eat  all  that  is  placed  before  him,  he 
must  redeem  himself  by  the  forfeit  of  a  buffalo  or  beaver 
skin.  Great  quantities  of  provisions,  especially  of  venison, 
are  collected  for  these  festivities.  In  the  mean  time  they 
are  often  famished  with  hunger. 

Their  medical  knowledge,  even  if  classed  with  super- 
stitious usages,  is  not  to  beodespised,  and  they  have  large 
acquaintance  with  healing  herbs  and  the  powers  of  nature. 
A  lady  of  Philadelphia,  who  resided  many  years  among 
the  Indians,  in  order  to  gain  a  knowledge  of  their  various 
remedies,  drew  up,  on  her  return,  an  Indian  materia-medi- 
ca,  which  became  much  celebrated,  and  many  new  cura- 
tive means  have  thus  enriched  the  American  pharmaco- 
poeia. Women  are  also,  among  the  Indians,  esteemed  as 
physicians  and  interpreters  of  dreams;  and  the  Winne- 
bago Indians,  who  dwell  by  Lake  Superior,  in  the  north- 
eastern part  of  Minnesota,  have  now,  singularly  enough, 
two  queens  whom  they  obey — the  one  for  her  wisdom,  the 
other  for  her  courage  and  bravery.  Otherwise,  women 
among  the  Indians  are,  as  is  well  known,  servants  who 
do  all  the  hard  work,  as  well  without  as  within  the  house. 
They  dig  the  fields  (pieces  of  land  without  form  or  regu- 
larity), sow  and  reap,  gather  wild  rice,  berries,  roots,  and 
make  sugar  from  the  juice  of  the  sugar-maple.  When 
the  man  kills  a  deer,  he  throws  it  down  for  the  woman, 
who  must  prepare  it  for  household  use. 

"  What  estimate  may  be  given  of  the  morals  and  char- 
acter of  the  Indian  women  in  this  neighborhood?"  in- 
quired I  from  a  lady  of  St.  Paul's,  who  had  resided  a  con- 
siderable time  at  this  place. 

"Many  are  immoral,  and  can  not  be  much  commend- 
ed ;  but  others,  again,  there  are  who  are  as  virtuous  and 
blameless  as  any  of  us." 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  49 

I  have  also  heard  incidents  cited  which  prove  that  the 
Indian  woman  will  sometimes  assume,  in  the  wigwam,  the 
privilege  of  the  husband,  bring  him  under  the  rule  of  the 
moccasin,  and  chastise  him  soundly  if  he  offend  her.  He 
never  strikes  again,  but  patiently  lets  himself  be  beaten 
black  and  blue.  He  knows,  however,  that  his  turn  will 
come,  and  he  knows  well  enough  that  he  can  then  have 
his  revenge. 

When  an  Indian  dies,  the  women  assemble  round  the 
corpse,  make  a  howling  lament,  tear  their  hair,  and  cut 
themselves  with  sharp  stones.  A  missionary  in  Minne- 
sota saw  a  young  Indian  woman  slash  and  cut  her  flesh 
over  her  brother's  corpse  in  the  most  terrific  manner, 
while  other  women  around  her  sung  songs  of  vengeance 
against  the  murderer  of  the  dead.  The  god  of  revenge  is 
the  ideal  of  the  savage. 

The  virtues  of  the  Indian  man  are  universally  known. 
His  fidelity  in  keeping  a  promise,  his  hospitality,  and  his 
strength  of  mind  under  sorrow  and  suffering,  have  often 
been  praised.  It  strikes  me,  however,  that  these  his  vir- 
tues have  their  principal  root  in  an  immense  pride.  The 
virtue  of  the  Indian  is  selfish.  That  dignity  of  which 
we  have  heard  so  much  seems  to  me  more  like  the  con- 
ceit of  a  cock  than  the  natural  dignity  of  a  noble,  manly 
being.  Now  they  raise  themselves  up,  and  stand  or  walk 
proudly.  Now  they  squat  all  in  a  heap,  sitting  on  their 
hams  like  dogs  or  baboons.  Now  they  talk  with  proud 
words  and  gestures ;  now  prate  and  jabber  like  a  flock  of 
magpies.  There  is  a  deal  of  parade  in  their  pride  and 
silence.  Occasionally  beautiful  exceptions  have  been  met 
with,  and  still  exist,  where  the  dignity  is  genuine,  and 
the  nobility  genuine  also.  These  exceptions  are  met 
with  among  the  old  chiefs  in  particular.  But  the  prin- 
cipal features  among  the  Indians  are,  after  all,  idolatry, 
pride,  cruelty,  thirst  of  vengeance,  and  the  degradation  of 
woman. 

Vol.  II.— C 


50  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

They  have  no  other  government  nor  governors  "but 
through  their  chiefs  and  medicine-men.  The  former  have 
but  little  power  and  respect,  excepting  in  their  own  indi- 
vidual character,  and  they  seem  greatly  to  fear  the  loss 
of  their  popularity  in  their  tribe. 

Such,  with  little  variation,  are  the  manners,  the  faith, 
and  the  condition  of  the  North  American  Indians. 

A  great  deal  has  been  said,  and  conjectured,  and  writ- 
ten, and  much  inquiry  has  been  made  on  the  question  of 
whence  came  these  people  ?  And  it  now  seems  to  be  an 
established  idea  that  they  are  of  the  Mongolian  race,  from 
the  northern  part  of  Asia,  a  resemblance  having  been  dis- 
covered between  them  and  this  people,  both  in  their  ap- 
pearance and  mode  of  life,  and  also  because  Asia  and 
America  approach  each  other  so  nearly  at  this  point,  that 
the  passage  from  one  hemisphere  to  the  other  does  not 
appear  an  improbable  undertaking  for  bold  coasting  voy- 
agers. 

The  Peruvians  of  South  America,  and  those  noble  Az- 
tecs, who  possessed  a  splendid,  though  short-lived  power, 
and  whose  noblest  ruler  spake  words  as  wise  and  poetry 
as  rich  as  that  of  King  Solomon  ;  these  Indians,  and  those 
whose  devastated  cities  have  lately  been  discovered  in 
Central  America,  were  evidently  of  a  higher  race  than 
the  people  of  North  America,  and  their  remains,  as  well 
as  all  that  is  known  of  their  manners  and  customs,  prove 
them  to  be  kindred  to  the  noblest  Asiatic  races. 

The  zealous  upholders  of  the  doctrine  that  all  mankind 
have  descended  from  one  single  human  pair,  and  who 
placed  them  in  Asia,  are  reduced  to  great  straits  to  ex- 
plain the  emigration  of  these  various  people  from  the 
mother  country.  I  can  not  understand  why  each  hemis- 
phere should  not  be  considered  as  the  mother  country  of 
its  own  people.  The  same  power  of  nature,  and  the  same 
creative  power,  are  able  to  produce  a  human  pair  in  more 
than  one  place.     And  when  God  is  the  father,  and  nature 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  5j 

the  mother,  then  must  indeed,  in  any  case,  the  whole  hu- 
man race  be  brethren.  And  the  Adamite  pair  may  very 
well  consider  themselves  as  the  elected  human  pair,  sent 
to  instruct  and  emancipate  those  young  kindred  pairs 
which  were  still  more  in  bondage  than  themselves  to  the 
life  of  earth.  Grod  forgive  us  for  the  manner  in  which  we 
have  most  frequently  fulfilled  our  mission. 

But  North  America  is  not  altogether  to  blame  with  re- 
gard to  her  Indians.  If  the  Indian  had  been  more  sus- 
ceptible of  a  higher  culture,  violence  and  arms  would  not 
have  been  used  against  him,  as  is  now  the  case.  And 
although  the  earlier  missionaries,  strong  in  faith,  and 
filled  with  zealous  ardor,  succeeded  in  gathering  around 
them  small,  faithful  companies  of  Indian  proselytes,  yet  it 
was  evidently  rather  through  the  effect  of  their  individual 
character  than  from  any  inherent  power  in  the  doctrines 
which  they  preached.  When  they  died  their  flocks  dis- 
persed. 

Sometimes  white  men  of  peculiar  character  have  taken 
to  themselves  Indian  wives,  and  have  endeavored  to  make 
cultivated  women  of  them ;  but  in  vain.  The  squaw  con- 
tinued to  be  the  squaw  ;  uncleanly,  with  unkemmed  hair, 
loving  the  dimness  of  the  kitchen  more  than  the  light  of 
the  drawing-room,  the  ample  envelopment  of  the  woolen 
blanket  rather  than  tight  lacing  and  silken  garments. 
The  faithful  wife  and  tender  mother  she  may  become, 
steadfast  to  home  and  the  care  of  her  family  as  long  as 
her  husband  lives  and  the  children  are  small ;  but  when 
the  children  are  grown  up,  and  if  the  husband  be  dead, 
then  will  she  vanish  from  her  home.  When  the  birds 
warble  of  spring  and  the  forest,  and  the  streams  murmur 
of  renovated  life,  she  will  return  to  the  wigwams  of  her 
people  in  the  forest  or  by  the  river,  to  seek  by  their  fires 
for  freedom  and  peace.  This  wild  life  must  assuredly 
have  a  great  fascination. 

Of  all  the  tribes  of  North  American  Indians  now  exist- 


52  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

ing,  the  Cherokees  and  Choctaws  are  the  only  ones  which 
have  received  Christianity  and  civilization.  When  the 
Europeans  first  visited  these  trihes,  they  were  living  in 
small  villages  in  the  highland  district  of  Tennessee,  Geor- 
gia, and  Alabama ;  they  were  peaceful,  and  pursued  ag- 
riculture. They  were  drawn  from  their  homes  by  fair 
means  and  foul,  and  obtained  land  west  of  the  Mississip- 
pi, in  the  western  part  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  and  there 
it  is  said  they  have  become  a  large  and  flourishing  com- 
munity, greatly  augmenting  in  number,  and  assimilating 
to  the  manners  and  customs  of  Europeans.  They  are 
employed  in  agriculture  and  the  breeding  of  cattle ;  they 
build  regular  houses,  and  have  of  late  years  reduced  their 
language  to  writing,  and  have  established  a  printing- 
press.  I  have,  among  my  American  curiosities,  a  Chero- 
kee newspaper,  printed  in  the  Cherokee  language. 

The  wild  Indians,  who  for  the  most  part  sustain  them- 
selves by  fishing  and  hunting,  are  becoming  more  and 
more  eradicated,  in  part  by  mutual  wars,  and  in  part  by 
the  small-pox,  as  well  as  by  brandy,  which,  adulterated 
by  pernicious  inflammatory  ingredients,  is  sold  to  them 
by  the  white  traders.  The  American  government  has 
strictly  interdicted  the  sale  of  spirituous  liquors  to  the  In- 
dians, but  they  are  so  covetous  of  intoxicating  drinks,  and 
mean  souls  are  every  where  so  covetous  of  gain,  that  the 
prohibition  is  of  very  little  avail.  Spirituous  liquors  are 
smuggled  in  with  other  merchandise  among  the  Indians 
of  this  district.  The  American  government  buys  land 
from  the  Indians,  and  with  the  money  which  is  annually 
distributed  among  them  as  payment  they  purchase  "  fire- 
water," as  well  as  the  means  of  life,  for  which  they  pay 
an  exorbitant  price.  Thus  they  are  impoverished  by  de- 
grees, and  fall  into  utter  penury.  Thus  they  become 
more  and  more  degraded,  both  morally  and  physically, 
nor  have  their  medicine-men  either  remedy  or  magic  art 
against  the  poisoned  contact  of  the  whites. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  53 

Noble  men  among  the  Indians  have  spoken  strong  and 
bitter  words  against  these  whites,  and  against  their  own 
people  falling  under  their  influence. 

"  If  the  Great  Spirit,"  said  a  Sioux  chief  to  a  Christian 
missionary,  "had  intended  your  religion  for  the  red  man, 
he  would  have  given  it  to  him.  We  do  not  understand 
what  you  tell  us  ;  and  the  light  which  you  wish  to  give 
us  darkens  that  clear,  straight  path  upon  which  our  fa- 
thers walked !" 

As  he  lay  dying  he  said  to  his  people, 

"  Dig  my  grave  yourselves,  and  do  not  let  the  white 
man  follow  me  there  !" 

Ah !  over  his  grave  the  white  man  is  advancing  in  the 
name  of  light  and  civilization,  and  the  "  people  of  the  twi- 
light" give  way  before  him,  dying  away  by  degrees  in  the 
wilderness,  and  in  the  shadows  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
It  can  not  be  otherwise. 

And  whatever  interest  I  may  feel  in  high-minded  char- 
acters among  the  Indians,  still  I  can  not  possibly  wish  for 
a  prolonged  existence  to  that  people,  who  reckon  cruelty 
among  their  virtues,  and  who  reduce  the  weak  to  beasts 
of  burden. 

The  people  who  subject  them,  and  who  deprive  them  of 
their  native  land,  are — whatever  faults  they  may  have — 
a  nobler  and  more  humane  people.  They  have  a  higher 
consciousness  of  good  and  evil.  They  seek  after  perfec- 
tion ;  they  wish  to  cast  aside  the  weapons  of  barbarism, 
and  not  to  establish  on  the  new  earth  any  other  abiding 
fortress  than  that  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  not  to  bear 
any  other  banner  than  that  of  the  Prince  of  Peace.  And 
in  latter  times  especially  have  they  proved,  even  in  their 
transactions  with  the  Indians,  that  they  are  earnest  in  this 
desire. 

The  Indians,  like  the  Greenlanders,  look  down  upon  the 
white  race  with  a  proud  contempt,  at  the  same  time  that 
they  fear  them ;  a-nd  their  legend  of  what  happened  at  the 


54  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

creation  of  the  various  races  proves  naively  how  they  view 
the  relationship  between  them. 

"  The  first  man  which  Manitou  baked,"  say  they,  "was 
not  thoroughly  done,  and  he  came  white  out  of  the  oven ; 
the  second  was  overdone,  was  burned  in  the  baking,  and 
he  was  black.  Manitou  now  tried  a  third  time,  and 
with  much  better  success;  this  third  man  was  thoroughly 
baked,  and  came  out  of  the  oven  of  a  fine  red  brown — 
this  was  the  Indian." 

The  learned  of  Europe  divide  the  three  principal  races 
of  the  earth  into  People  of  the  Day — the  Whites ;  People 
of  the  Night — the  Negroes ;  and  People  of  the  Twilight — 
the  Indians  of  the  Eastern  and  Western  hemispheres. 

What  the  negroes  say  about  themselves  and  the  other 
races  I  know  not ;  but  this  appears  to  me  certain,  that  they 
stand  in  closer  proximity  to  the  people  of  the  day  than  to 
the  people"  of  the  twilight  in  their  capacity  for  spiritual 
development ;  that  they  have  a  grander  future  before  them 
than  the  latter,  and  less  self-love  than  either. 

Fort  Snelling  lies  on  the  western  bank  of  the  Mississip- 
pi, where  the  St.  Peter's  flows  into  that  river  ;  and  at  this 
point  the  view  is  glorious  over  the  broad  St.  Peter's  River, 
called  by  the  Indians  the  Minnesota,  and  of  the  beautiful 
and  extensive  valley  through  which  it  runs.  Further  up 
it  flows  through  a  highland  district,  and  amid  magnificent 
scenery  inland  five  hundred  miles  westward.  "  There  is 
no  doubt,"  writes  a  young  American,  in  his  travels  through 
Minnesota,  "but  that  these  banks  of  the  St.  Peter's  will 
some  time  become  the  residence  of  the  aristocracy  of  the 
country." 

This  must  be  a  far-sighted  glance,  one  would  imagine ; 
but  things  advance  rapidly  in  this  country. 

We  visited,  on  our  way  to  Fort  Snelling,  a  waterfall, 
called  the  Little  Falls.  It  is  small,  but  so  infinitely  beau- 
tiful that  it  deserves  its  own  picture,  song,  and  saga.  The 
whitest  of  foam,  the  blackest  of  crags,  the  most  graceful, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  55 

and,  at  the  same  time,  wild  and  gentle  fall !  Small  things 
may  become  great  through  their  perfection. 

Later.  I  have  to-day  visited,  in  company  with  a  kind 
young  clergyman,  the  so-called  Fountain  Cave,  at  a  short 
distance  from  the  city.  It  is  a  subterranean  cavern  with 
many  passages  and  halls,  similar  probably  to  the  celebrated 
Mammoth  Cave  of  Kentucky.  Many  such  subterranean 
palaces  are  said  to  be  found  in  Minnesota,  although  they 
have  not  yet  been  explored ;  neither  has  this  grotto  been 
thoroughly  penetrated.  I  enjoyed  myself  sitting  under  its 
magnificent  arched  portico,  drinking  of  its  crystalline  fount- 
ain, and  listening  to  the  song  of  its  falling  water  in  the 
far  interior  of  the  grotto.  The  grotto  is  reached  by  an 
abrupt  and  deep  descent,  resembling  a  gigantic  pit ;  with- 
in this  one  finds  one's  self  surrounded  by  lofty  walls  of 
sandstone,  one  of  which  expands  if  tselinto  a  gigantic  port- 
al, and  all  beyond  is  dark.  The  whole  circle  of  the  in- 
closing walls  is  perforated  with  innumerable  small  round 
holes,  in  which  small  birds  have  their  nests. 

To  reach  the  grotto,  we  passed  through  extensive  mead- 
ows lying  along  the  Mississippi.  The  grass  stood  tall  and 
yellow.  The  air  was  as  warm  as  a  summer's  day.  It 
was  the  Indian  summer.  The  meadows  looked  most  pleas- 
ant, most  fertile  and  inviting.  We  met  a  milk-maid  also 
coming  with  her  milk-pails  ;  she  was  handsome,  but  had 
artificial  curls,  and  did  not  look  like  a  regular  milk-maid, 
not  as  a  true  milk-maid  in  a  pastoral  ought  to  look. 

But  this  Minnesota  is  a  glorious  country,  and  just  the 
country  for  Northern  emigrants — just  the  country  for  a 
new  Scandinavia.  It  is  four  times  as  large  as  England; 
its  soil  is  of  the  richest  description,  with  extensive  wooded 
tracts ;  great  numbers  of  rivers  and  lakes  abounding  in 
fish,  and  a  healthy,  invigorating  climate.  The  winters 
are  cold  and  clear ;  the  summers  not  so  hot  as  in  those 
states  lying  lower  on  the  Mississippi.  The  frosts  seldom 
commence  before  the  middle  of  September. 


56  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Lake  Itaski,  the  cradle  of  the  Mississippi,  lies  one  thou- 
sand five  hundred  and  seventy-five  feet  above  the  Mexican 
G-ulf;  and  the  highland  district  which  surrounds  Itaska 
in  a  half  circle  on  the  north,  that  gigantic  terrace,  Hau- 
teur des  terres,  where  the  springs  of  those  mighty  rivers, 
the  Mississippi,  the  St.  Louis,  the  St.  Lawrence,  the  Red 
River,  and  many  others  have  their  source,  lies  still  two 
hundred  feet  higher.  The  whole  of  Minnesota  is  hilly. 
Minnesota  is  bounded  on  the  east  by  Lake  Superior  (the 
Mediterranean  Sea  of  America),  and  is  brought  by  this  into 
connection  with  the  Eastern  States,  with  the  St.  Lawrence, 
and  the  Hudson,  and  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  It  has  Canada 
on  the  north,  on  the  west  the  wild  Missouri,  navigable 
through  almost  the  whole  of  its  extent,  and  flowing  at  the 
feet  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  rich  in  metals  and  precious 
stones,  and  with  prairies  where  graze  wild  herds  of  buf- 
faloes, elks,  and  antelopes.  On  the  other  side  of  Missouri 
lies  that  mystical  Indian  Nebraska,  where,  beyond  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  and  for  the  most  part  still  unknown, 
lies  Oregon,  an  immense  territory,  with  immense  resources 
in  natural  productions,  vast  stretches  of  valley  and  vast 
rivers,  the  Columbus  and  the  Oregon,  which  empty  them- 
selves into  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  in  whose  cascades  salm- 
on leap  in  shoals,  as  in  the  rapid  rivers  of  Norway  and 
Sweden.  On  the  south  of  Minnesota  lies  the  fertile  Iowa, 
a  young  state,  with  beautiful  rivers,  the  Iowa,  Cedar,  and 
Des  Moines  ;  extensive  stretches  of  valley  and  rich  pas- 
ture-lands ;  and  through  the  very  heart  of  Minnesota  flows 
that  great  artery,  the  Mississippi,  the  birth  of  which  it  wit- 
nesses, and  upon  whose  waters  it  can  convey  all  the  prod- 
uce of  the  North  to  the  South,  and  obtain  all  the  produce 
of  the  South  both  for  the  North  and  for  itself. 

What  a  glorious  new  Scandinavia  might  not  Minnesota 
become !  Here  would  the  Swede  find  again  his  clear,  ro- 
mantic lakes,  the  plains  of  Scania  rich  in  corn,  and  the 
valleys  of  Norrland ;  here  would  the  Norwegian  find  his 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  57 

rapid  rivers,  his  lofty  mountains,  for  I  include  the  Rocky- 
Mountains  and  Oregon  in  the  new  kingdom ;  and  both  na- 
tions their  hunting-fields  and  their  fisheries.  The  Danes 
might  here  pasture  their  flocks  and  herds,  and  lay  out  their 
farms  on  richer  and  less  misty  coasts  than  those  of  Den- 
mark. The  Rocky  Mountains  are  a  new  Seveberg  with 
mythological  monsters,  giants  and  witches  enough  to  feed 
the  legendary  mind  and  the  warlike  temperament.  The 
gods  must  yet  combat  here  with  the  Hrimthursar  and  the- 
giants ;  Balder  must  have  a  fresh  warfare  with  Loke,  in 
which  Balder  will  be  victorious,  and  the  serpent  of  Mid- 
gaerd  be  laid  at  rest  in  the  Pacific  Ocean — at  least  till 
the  great  Ragnarok. 

Neither  would  the  joys  of  Valhalla  be  wanting  in  the 
New  Vineland  of  the  vine-crowned  islands  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  the  great  divine  hog  Schrimmer  has  nowhere 
such  multitudes  of  descendants  as  in  the  New  "World.  But 
the  Scandinavians  must  not  rest  satisfied  with  the  hea- 
thenish life  of  festivity.  They  must  seek  after  nobler  en- 
joyments. 

But  seriously,  Scandinavians  who  are  well  off  in  the 
Old  Country  ought  not  to  leave  it.  But  such  as  are  too 
much  contracted  at  home,  and  who  desire  to  emigrate, 
should  come  to  Minnesota.  The  climate,  the  situation, 
the  character  of  the  scenery  agrees  with  our  people  better 
than  that  of  any  other  of  the  American  States,  and  none 
of  them  appear  to  me  to  have  a  greater  or  a  more  beau- 
tiful future  before  them  than  Minnesota. 

Add  to  this  that  the  rich  soil  of  Minnesota  is  not  yet 
bought  up  by  speculators,  but  may  every  where  be  pur- 
chased at  government  prices,  one  dollar  and  a  quarter  per 
acre.  I  have  been  told  that  the  Norwegian  pastor  in  Lu- 
ther's Dale,  Mr.  Clausen,  is  intending  to  remove  hither 
with  a  number  of  Norwegians,  in  order  to  establish  a  set- 
tlement. Grood.  There  are  here  already  a  considerable 
number  both  of  Norwegians  and  Danes.     I  have  become 

0  2 


58  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

acquainted  with  a  Danish  merchant,  resident  here,  who 
has  made  a  considerable  fortune  in  a  few  years  in  the  fur 
trade  with  the  Indians,  and  who  has  built  himself  a  large 
and  handsome  country  house  at  some  little  distance  from 
the  city.  His  wife,  who  is  the  daughter  of  an  Indian 
woman  by  a  white  man,  has  the  dark  Indian  eye,  and 
features  not  unlike  those  of  the  Feather  -  cloud  woman, 
and  in  other  respects  is  as  much  like  a  gentlewoman  as 
any  agreeable  white  lady.  I  promised  this  kind  Dane, 
who  retains  the  perfect  Danish  characteristics  in  the  midst 
of  Americans,  that  I  would,  on  my  return,  in  passing 
through  Copenhagen,  pay  a  visit  to  his  old  mother,  and 
convey  to  her  his  greeting. 

And  here  I  may  as  well  remark,  en  passant,  that  the 
children  of  Indian  women  by  white  men  commonly  attach 
themselves  to  the  white  race.  They  are  most  frequently 
fine  specimens  of  humanity,  although  not  of  a  remarkably 
elevated  kind.  They  are  praised  for  their  acuteness  of 
eye,  and  the  keenness  of  their  perceptive  faculties  gener- 
ally. I  have  heard  that  the  greater  number  of  the  steers- 
men of  the  Mississippi  boats  belong  to  this  half-blood  race. 

A  young  Norwegian  woman  lives  as  cook  with  Govern- 
or Ramsay ;  she  is  not  above  twenty,  and  is  not  remark- 
ably clever  as  a  cook,  and  yet  she  receives  eleven  dollars 
per  month  wages.  This  is  an  excellent  country  for  young 
servants. 

I  shall  to-morrow  commence  my  voyage  down  the  Mis- 
sissippi as  far  as  Galena ;  thence  to  St.  Louis,  at  which 
place  I  shall  proceed  up  the  Ohio  to  Cincinnati,  and  thence 
to  New  Orleans,  and,  advancing  onward,  shall  proceed  from 
some  one  of  the  southern  sea-port  towns  to  Cuba,  where  I 
intend  to  winter. 

I  am  not  quite  satisfied  about  leaving  this  part  of  the 
country.  I  wish  to  see  more  of  the  Indians  and  their  way 
of  life,  and  feel  something  like  a  hungry  person  who  is 
obliged  to  leave  a  meal  which  he  has  just  commenced. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  59 

I  wish  to  see  more  of  the  country  and  the  aborigines,  but 
do  not  exactly  see  how  and  in  what  manner.  Neither 
roads  nor  means  of  conveyance  are  to  be  met  with  here, 
as  in  the  more  cultivated  states.  Besides  which,  I  must 
not  any  longer  remain  in  this  family,  which  has  so  hospi- 
tably provided  me  a  chamber  by  sending  the  only  child 
of  the  family,  a  beautiful  little  infant,  and  its  nurse,  into 
a  cold  room.  The  child  must  return  into  its  warm  cham- 
ber, for  the  nights  are  getting  cold.  I  long  for  the  South, 
and  dread  these  cold  nights  on  the  Mississippi;  and  it  is 
too  far,  and  the  roads  are  too  difficult  for  me  to  go  to  an- 
other family,  residing  at  some  distance,  who  have  kindly 
invited  me  to  their  house,  and — the  inward  light  does  not 
afford  me  any  illumination,  and  the  inward  voice  is  silent. 
I  shall  therefore  commence  my  journey,  but  someway  I 
have  a  presentiment  that  I  shall  have  to  repent  it. 

I  shall  part  from  my  cheerful  and  kind  hostess  with 
regret.  I  shall  take  with  me  a  pair  of  Indian  moccasins 
for  your  little  feet,  and  another  pair  for  Charlotte's,  and 
a  bell-purse  of  Indian  work  for  mamma.  The  work  of 
the  Indian  women  is  ornamental  and  neat,  although  de- 
ficient in  taste  and  knowledge  of  design.  Scarlet  and 
fine  colors  predominate  in  their  embroidery  as  well  as  in 
the  festal  attire  of  their  people.  Scarlet  seems  to  be  a 
favorite  color  with  all  children  of  nature. 

I  have  gained  some  information  from  the  young  Pres- 
byterian missionary  here  regarding  the  effect  of  mission- 
ary labors  among  the  Indians,  which  seems  to  promise  a 
brighter  future  for  them  than  I  had  hitherto  imagined. 
Since  the  Grospel3  have  been  translated  into  the  language 
of  the  principal  tribes  and  have  been  studied  by  them, 
Christianity  has  made  considerable  advances  among  the 
savage  people,  and  with  each  succeeding  year  have  the 
results  of  missionary  labors  been  more  and  more  striking. 

When,  in  1828,  "  a  revival"  in  the  religious  life  occa- 
sioned a  reanimation  and  a  new  organization  of  mission- 


60  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

ary  labor,  there  were  only  thirty-one  missionaries  among 
the  Indians,  with  a  revenue  of  only  2400  dollars  for  car- 
rying out  the  work  of  instruction. 

At  this  time  (1850)  there  are  570  missionaries — more 
than  half  of  whom  are  women,  among  the  Indians,  with 
a  revenue  of  79,000  dollars  yearly  ;  to  these  missionaries 
must  be  added  2000  preachers  and  helpers  among  the 
natives  themselves.  A  thousand  churches  of  various 
Christian  denominations  have  been  erected,  and  the  num- 
ber of  professing  Christians  of  the  Indian  tribes  amounts 
at  this  time  to  40,537.  A  great  number  of  schools  have 
been  established,  and  are  increasing  daily,  where  the  In- 
dian children  may  receive  instruction  in  reading,  writ- 
ing, and  arithmetic,  as  well  as  in  handcraft  trades.  The 
women  easily  acquire  these  latter.  The  boys  learn  to 
read  and  write  with  greater  facility  than  the  girls ;  but 
it  is  very  difficult  to  accustom  them  to  order  and  punc- 
tuality. It  is  not  until  after  religious  conversion  that  it 
is  possible  to  impart  moral  and  physical  cultivation  to 
them,  before  which  they  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  it. 
The  number  of  schools  has  already  increased  to  between 
four  and  five  hundred,  and  the  number  of  scholars,  both 
boys  and  girls,  is  more  than  30,000.  Seminaries  for  boys 
and  girls  have  also  been  established.  Printing-presses 
have  been  introduced,  and  printed  works  in  thirty  differ- 
ent languages  have  been  produced.  Mr.  Williamson,  the 
missionary  of  Kaposia,  considers  the  ignorance  of  the  In- 
dians to  be  the  greatest  impediment  to  their  cultivation. 
The  women  are  the  most  accessible  to  religious  impres- 
sions ;  the  men,  in  particular  those  of  the  warlike  tribes, 
as  the  Sioux,  for  instance,  are  more  difficult  to  influence, 
and  they  will  not  listen  to  a  doctrine  which  is  diametric- 
ally opposed  to  that  which  constitutes  their  heathenish 
virtue  and  happiness.  The  missionaries,  therefore,  have 
as  yet  maoe  but  little  way  among  the  Sioux,  nor  indeed 
have  they  yet  advanced  among  the  savage  tribes  lying 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  g] 

between  Minnesota  and  the  Rocky  Mountains.  It  will 
not  be  long,  however,  before  they  do  so. 

From  the  annual  report  of  the  American  Board  of  Mis- 
sions for  the  year  1850,  from  which  I  have  taken  many 
of  the  above  facts,  I  extract  the  following  words  : 

"  How  long  will  it  be  before  we  establish  a  synod  on 
the  shores  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  ?  Already  are  our  mis- 
sionaries scattered  over  the  whole  of  the  United  States 
cast  of  the  Mississippi,  with  the  exception  of  one  little 
valley  in  the  northeast.  They  have  crossed  that  river, 
and  are  now  beginning  zealously  to  occupy  that  immense 
country  which  extends  westward  of  it,  from  the  Mexican 
Gulf  to  the  British  colonies  of  the  North.  Nay,  more 
still ;  they  have  wandered  over  the  whole  continent,  and 
in  that  new  world  of  the  West  have  begun  to  found  a 
kingdom  of  God.  What  will  our  progress  be  ultimately  ? 
The  spires  of  our  churches  along  the  shores  of  the  Atlan- 
tic are  illumined  by  the  light  of  the  morning  sun.  Ad- 
vancing over  the  country,  it  shines  upon  them  through 
the  whole  day  ;  and  when  it  sets,  its  last  rays  still  rest 
upon  these  as  they  rise  upward  along  the  shores  of  the 
Pacific  Ocean.  Yes,  we  have  done  something,  with  God's 
aid  ;  but  we  have  yet  infinitely  more  to  do  before  we  have 
fulfilled  the  measure  of  our  duty." 

That  is  a  good  little  specimen  of  the  labor  and  the  elo- 
quence of  the  West. 

Thus  a  little  flock  even  of  the  red  men  have  on  earth 
entered  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  And  if,  out  of  those 
40,000  wfco  publicly  acknowledge  themselves  of  the 
Church  of  Christ,  10,000  only,  nay  if  only  1000  be  real- 
ly Christians,  there  is  still  enough  for  an  infinite  future. 
In  those  "happy  lands"  where  the  red  children  of  God 
will  one  day  be  at  home,  beyond  the  dark  abyss,  will  they 
labor  for  the  liberation  of  their  brethren,  "  the  children  of 
the  twilight,"  who  remain  in  the  realm  of  shadows. 

The  kingdom  of  the  Savior  and  the  work  of  salvation 


62  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

are  not  circumscribed  to  this  little  space  and  to  this  short 
time.  Their  space  and  their  time  are  eternal  as  the  heart 
of  God.  I  know  that  the  missionaries  here  promulgate 
another  doctrine  ;  and  it  is  incomprehensible  how  they  by 
that  means  are  able  to  make  any  progress,  incomprehens- 
ible how  they  can  have  any  satisfaction  in  so  doing.  But 
a  light,  stronger,  mightier,  than  that  of  these  circumscribed 
doctrines  must  proceed  from  the  Word  of  Christ  to  the 
heart  of  the  heathen,  and  attract  it  to  His  cross  and  His 
crown,  from  the  hunting-grounds  and  the  wild  dances  of 
earth  to  His  heaven.     I  can  not  believe  otherwise. 

It  is  evening,  and  the  bright  glow  of  fires  lights  up  the 
western  heaven,  as  it  has  done  every  evening  since  I  came 
here.  It  is  the  glow  of  the  Indian  prairie  fires,  which  they 
kindle  to  compel  the  deer  to  assemble  at  certain  points, 
as  it  is  now  their  hunting  season.  In  this  manner  they 
take  a  vast  number  of  deer,  but  at  the  same  time  destroy 
the  chase,  and  by  that  means  occasion  still  greater  want, 
or  are  compelled  to  go  still  further  westward  into  the  wil- 
derness. 

But  the  West  is  brilliant,  and  all  the  saints — St.  Peter, 
St.  Paul,  St.  Charles,  a  settlement  still  higher  up,  St.  An- 
thony, who  is  beginning  to  build  a  city — who  have  taken 
up  their  abode  on  the  Northern  Mississippi,  and  who  now 
are  lit  up  by  the  fires  of  the  Indians,  will  give  a  new  dawn 
to  the  wilderness  and  a  new  light  to  life. 

The  West  is  brilliant  from  the  burning  prairies,  from 
the  wild  chase.  I  love  that  glow,  because  it  has  a  poet- 
ical splendor;  it  shines  over  the  moon-dances,  and  the 
councils,  and  the  feasts  of  the  spirits.  But  it  is,  after  all, 
rather  brightness  than  light. 

When  homes  such  as  those  of  Andrew  Downing  and 
Marcus  S.,  and  of  my  good  friend  Mrs.  W.  H.,  which  is 
almost  a  Swedish  home,  stand  upon  the  heights  of  the 
Mississippi  and  St.  Peter's ;  when  church  spires  shine  out 
and  scalp-dances  are  no  longer  danced  there  ;  when  voices 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  63 

suoh  as  those  of  Channing,  and  Emerson,  and  Beecher, 
and  Bellows,  lift  themselves  in  the  councils,  and  when 
Lucretia  Motts  speak  there  also  for  freedom,  peace,  and 
the  rights  of  woman ;  when  the  Christian  Indian  States, 
Nebraska,  &c,  stand  peacefully  side  by  side  of  Minnesota, 
then — it  may  be  in  a  hundred  years — then  will  I  return 
to  Minnesota  and  celebrate  a  new  feast  of  the  spirits  ;  and 
I  will  return  thither  in — the  spirit ! 


LETTER    XXVIII. 

On  the  Mississippi,  Oct.  24. 

Floating  down  the  Great  River,  "the  Father  of  Rivers," 
between  Indian  camps,  fires,  boats,  Indians  standing  or 
leaping,  and  shouting,  or  rather  yelling,  upon  the  shores; 
funeral  erections  on  the  heights  ;  between  vine-clad  isl- 
ands, and  Indian  canoes  paddling  among  them !  I  would 
yet  retain  these  strange  foreign  scenes ;  but  I  proceed  on- 
ward, passing  them  by.  We  leave  this  poetical  wilder- 
ness, the  region  of  the  youthful  Mississippi,  and  advance 
toward  that  of  civilization.  The  weather  is  mild,  the  sun 
and  the  shade  sport  among  the  mountains — a  poetical,  ro- 
mantic life ! 

Oct.  25th.  Sunbright,  but  cold.  The  Indians  have  van- 
ished. We  have  passed  the  "  Prairie  du  Chienf  the  idol- 
stone  of  the  red  Indian ;  the  Indian  graves  under  the  au- 
tumnally  yellow  trees.  The  hills  shine  out,  of  a  splendid 
yellow-brown.  The  ruins  and  the  pyramids  of  primeval 
ages  stand  forth  gloomy  and  magnificent  amid  the  brill- 
iant forests.  With  every  bend  of  the  river  new  and  as- 
tonishing prospects  present  themselves.  I  contemplate 
them,  read  Emerson's  Essays,  and  live  as  at  a  festival. 
We  approach  the  commencement  of  two  towns  on  the 
shore  of  Iowa,  Grottenborg,  a  descendant,  as  I  imagine,  of 
our  Gfotheborg,  and  Dubuque. 


64  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Oct.  21th.  Again  at  Galena,  among  the  lead  mines,  for 
a  couple  of  days.  It  is  Sunday,  and  I  am  returned  from 
church,  where  I  have  heard  a  young  Presbyterian  minister, 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  Mr.  Magoon.  A  true  disciple 
of  the  Great  West !  No  narrow  evangelical  views.  No, 
an  evangelical  consciousness  as  wide  as  the  "Western  prai- 
ries, as  vast  as  the  arch  of  heaven  which  spans  them,  and 
with  breathing-room  for  the  fresh  winds  of  infinity. 

The  young  minister's  theme  was  the  relationship  which 
exists  between  a  cultivated  and  a  religious  life. 

The  importance  of  a  true  philosophy  in  the  doctrines 
of  religion,  in  order  the  better  to  understand  and  to  develop 
them. 

The  importance  of  the  development  of  physical  life  in 
promoting  the  advance  of  spiritual  life. 

God's  guiding  hand  in  the  awakening  of  all  this,  both 
in  society  and  the  Church,  was  shown  by  him  in  an  an- 
imated and  earnest  manner. 

Job  said,  "  He  says  to  the  lightning,  go !    And  it  goeth !" 

The  electric  telegraph  is  the  lightning  of  God's  finger, 
made  subservient  to  man. 

Philosophy  is  God's  light  in  reason,  illumining  the  dark- 
ness both  of  reason  and  of  the  Scriptures. 

"It  is  thus  that  a  metaphysical  distinction  may  save  a 
soul." 

I  could  but  think,  on  hearing  this,  of  H.  Martensen's 
dialectical  gifts  of  God ! 

Lastly ;  the  union  of  the  highest  life  of  the  head  and  the 
heart,  operating  in  and  explanatory  of  all  spheres  of  life, 
as  they  exist  in  the  Church  of  the  Millennium.  These  were 
the  principal  topics  in  the  sermon  of  this  young  minister. 

An  earnest  prayer,  full  of  purport,  on  the  prayer  "  Thy 
Kingdom  Come,"  completed  the  whole  service;  one  of  the 
most  liberal  and  comprehensive,  one  of  the  freshest  and 
mos4  refreshing  which  I  have  heard  from  the  pulpit  of  any 
country. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  Q$ 

A  tirade  against  Catholicism  was  the  only  feature  in  it 
to  be  regretted,  because  it  does  not  become  the  Great 
West  to  exclude  any  form  of  the  divine  life.  And  what, 
indeed,  are  all  the  various  Christian  communities  other 
than  various  pews  in  the  same  church,  dividing  the  whole 
into  groups  of  families  or  relations  ? 

The  old  Pilgrim  Church  seems  to  me  now  to  be  the  one 
which  exhibits  most  indwelling  life,  which  grows  and  ex- 
pands itself  to  embrace  the  whole  of  human  life,  and  to 
baptize  it  to  the  kingdom  of  God. 

Oct.  29th.  I  have  established  myself  excellently  at  the 
American  Hotel,  and  I  do  not  intend,  during  the  few  days 
that  I  shall  remain  here,  to  accept  the  kind  invitation 
which  I  have  received  to  a  beautiful  private  home.  I 
have  here  my  nice  little  Irish  maid,  Margaret,  and  have 
every  thing  exactly  as  I  wish — among  the  rest,  potatoes, 
morning,  noon,  and  night,  quite  as  good  as  our  Aersta  po- 
tatoes. I  enjoy  my  freedom  and  my  solitary  rambles  over 
the  hills  round  the  town  during  these  fine  days. 

Yesterday,  the  agreeable,  liberal-minded  young  minis- 
ter, Mr.  Magoon,  drove  me  and  a  lady,  a  friend  of  his,  to 
a  height — Pilot  Knob,  I  think  it  is  called — by  the  Missis- 
sippi, from  which  we  were  to  see  the  sun  set.  Arrived 
there,  we  clambered  up  among  bushes,  and  long  grass, 
and  stones — difficult  enough  ;  and  obtained,  when  we  had 
gained  the  summit,  one  of  those  ocean-like  land  views 
which  the  Great  West  only  presents.  And  through  that 
infinite  billowy  plain  rolled  the  Mississippi,  like  a  vein  of 
silver,  far,  far  away  into  the  immeasurable  distance ;  and 
over  land  and  river  reposed  the  misty  veil  of  the  Indian 
summer,  and  its  inexpressible,  gentle  peace.  The  sun 
had  just  set;  but  a  roseate  glow  lay  like  a  joyful  benedic- 
tion over  that  vast  fertile  region.  It  was  indescribably 
grand  and  pleasant. 

I  thought  how  a  year  ago,  at  this  season,  my  spirit  had 
been  depressed  at  New  York ;  how,  later,  it  darkened  still 


66  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

more  for  me  at  Boston,  and  how  I  then  thought,  "  Shall 
I  be  able  to  endure  it?"  And  now  I  stood  serene  and 
vigorous  by  the  Mississippi,  with  the  Great  West  open  be- 
fore me,  with  a  rich  future,  and  the  whole  world  bright ! 
I  thanked  God  ! 

On  our  return  to  Galena,  the  carriage  broke  down. 
The  young  clergyman  sprang  out,  pulled  forth  some  rope 
and  a  knife,  and  began  to  work  in  good  earnest,  as  he 
said,  merrily, 

"  You  must  know,  Miss  Bremer,  that  coach-building  be- 
longs, here  in  the  West,  to  our  theology." 

The  emigrants  to  the  West  must,  to  a  certain  degree, 
experience  the  trouble  and  the  renunciation  of  the  early 
Pilgrim  Fathers.  And  in  order  to  succeed,  they  require 
their  courage  and  perseverance. 

But  people  pass  through  these  necessary  stages  much 
more  quickly  now  than  they  did  then.  The  beautiful, 
excellent  American  homes,  with  verandas,  and  trees,  and 
gardens,  which  begin  to  adorn  the  hills  round  Five  River, 
prove  this.  The  good  home,  and  the  church,  and  the  la- 
bors of  Christian  love,  encroach  daily  more  and  more  upon 
the  fields  and  the  life  of  heathenism.  I  do  not  now  mean 
of  the  Indian,  but  of  the  white  man. 

I  shall  to-day  go  on  board  the  good  steam-boat  Minne- 
sota, to  descend  the  Mississippi  as  far  as  St.  Louis.  Per- 
haps I  may  make  a  pause  by  the  way,  at  the  town  of  Rock 
Island,  to  visit  the  Swedish  settlement  of  Eric  Jansen,  at 
Bishop's  Hill,  a  few  miles  from  the  town. 

Among  the  agreeable  memories  of  my  stay  at  Galena, 
I  shall  long  retain  that  of  a  banker,  Mr.  H.,  who  showed 
me  so  much  kindness,  such  brotherly  or  fatherly  consid- 
eration and  care  for  me,  that  I  shall  ever  think  of  him 
and  of  his  city  with  gratitude. 

The  newspapers  of  the  West  are  making  themselves 
merry  over  the  rapturous  reception  which  the  people  of 
New  York  have  given  Jenny  Lind.  In  one  newspaper 
article  I  read : 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  57 

"  Our  correspondent  has  been  fortunate  enough  to  hear 
Jenny  Lind — sneeze.  The  first  sneezing  was  a  mezzo- 
tinto  soprano,  &c,  &c. ;"  here  follow  many  absurd  musi- 
cal and  art  terms;  "the  second  was,  &c,  &c. ;"  here  fol- 
low the  same;  "  the  third  he  did  not  hear,  as  he  fainted." 

I  can  promise  the  good  Western  people  that  they  will 
become  as  insane  with  rapture  as  their  brethren  of  the 
East,  if  Jenny  Lind  should  come  hither.  They  now  talk 
like  the  Fox  about  the  Grapes,  but  with  better  temper. 

One  of  the  inhabitants  of  St.  Paul's,  who  had  been  at 
New  York,  returned  there  before  I  left.  He  had  some 
business  with  Governor  Ramsay,  but  his  first  words  to 
this  gentlemen  were,  "  Governor !  I  have  heard  Jenny 
Lind !" 

Jenny  Lind,  the  new  Slave  Bill,  and  the  protests  against 
it  in  the  North,  Eastern,  and  Western  States,  are,  as  well 
as  the  Spiritual  Rappings  or  Knockings,  the  standing  top- 
ics of  the  newspapers. 

While  people  in  the  Northern  States  hold  meetings  and 
agitate  against  this  bill,  which  allows  the  recapture  of 
fugitive  slaves  in  the  free  states,  various  of  the  Southern 
States,  especially  the  Palmetto  State  and  Mississippi,  raise 
an  indignant  cry  against  the  infringement  of  the  rights  of 
the  South,  and  threaten  to  dissolve  the  Union.  And  the 
states  compliment  each  other  in  their  newspapers  in  any 
thing  but  a  polite  manner.  A  Kentucky  journal  writes 
thus  of  South  Carolina : 

"Why  has  she  not  marched  out  of  the  Union  before 
now  ?  The  Union  would  be  glad  to  be  rid  of  such  a  bag- 
gage !" 

On  the  Mississippi,  November  2d. 
We  are  lying  before  Rock  Island.  Some  kind  and 
agreeable  gentlemen  have  just  been  on  board,  with  a  pro- 
posal to  convey  me  to  the  Swedish  settlement.  I  can  not 
be  other  than  grateful  to  them  for  their  kindness  and 
good-will ;  but  the  nights  are  becoming  cold ;  I  am  not 


68  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

quite  well,  and — what  should  I  do  there  ?  "We,  my  coun- 
trymen and  myself,  should  not  understand  one  another, 
although  we  might  speak  the  same  language.  But  I  was 
well  pleased  to  gain  intelligence  from  these  gentlemen, 
merchants  of  Rock  Island,  regarding  the  present  condition 
of  the  Swedes  in  the  colony. 

Since  the  death  of  the  bishop,  as  they  called  Eric  Jan- 
sen,  they  have  gone  on  more  prosperously.  He,  however, 
by  his  bad  management,  left  them  burdened  by  a  large 
debt  of  ten  or  eleven  thousand  dollars,  and  some  of  them 
are  now  gone  to  California  to  get  gold,  to  endeavor  by  that 
means  to  liquidate  it.  Some  of  the  Swedes  at  Bishop's 
Hill  have  unremittingly  proved  themselves  to  be  honest, 
pious,  and  industrious  people,  and  as  such  they  have  the 
confidence  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  (Rock  Island), 
and  obtain  on  credit  the  goods  for  which  they  are  at  pres- 
ent unable  to  pay.  They  have  built  several  handsome 
brick  houses  for  themselves,  and  manage  their  land  well. 
They  have  begun  to  grow  and  to  spin  flax,  and  they  de- 
rive an  income  from  the  linen  thread  they  have  thus  to 
sell.  They  continue  steadfast  in  their  religious  usages, 
their  prayers,  and  their  faith  in  Eric  Jansen,  who  seems 
to  have  had  almost  a  demoniacal  power  over  their  minds. 
When  they  were  ill  and  did  not  recover  by  the  remedies 
and  prayers  of  Eric  Jansen,  he  told  them  that  it  was  ow- 
ing to  their  want  of  faith  in  him,  and  because  they  were 
reprobate  sinners.  Many  died  victims  to  the  diseases  of 
the  climate,  and  for  want  of  proper  care. 

The  respectable  and  agreeable  man,  who  was  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  Swedish  colony,  would  not  say  any  thing 
decidedly  against  Eric  Jansen,  nevertheless  he  doubted 
him ;  on  the  contrary,  he  praised  Eric  Jansen's  wife  as 
being  very  excellent  and  agreeable.  She  also  had  died 
of  one  of  those  fevers  which  raged  in  the  colony ;  and  four 
days  afterward,  Eric  Jansen  stood  up  during  divine  serv- 
ice in  the  church,  and  declared  that  "the   Spirit  had 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  69 

commanded  him  to  take  a  new  wife !"  Ana  a  woman 
present  stood  up  also  and  said,  that  "the  Spirit  had  made 
known  to  her  that  she  must  become  his  wife !"  This 
was  four  days  after  the  death  of  the  first  excellent  wife. 
Such  a  proceeding  elucidates  the  spirit  which  guided 
Eric  Jansen. 

His  murderer,  the  Swede  Rooth,  will  be  tried  in  the 
morning.  It  is  believed  that  he  will  be  acquitted,  as  the 
occasion  of  the  deed  was  such  as  might  well  drive  a  man 
mad.  Rooth  had  married  a  girl  in  the  Swedish  colony, 
contrary  to  the  wishes  of  Eric  Jansen.  Persecuted  by  the 
enmity  of  Jansen,  it  was  Rooth's  intention  to  leave  the 
place,  and  accordingly  he  had  privately  sent  off  his  wife 
and  child,  a  little  boy,  in  the  night.  They  were  pursued 
by  order  of  Jansen,  captured,  and  conveyed  in  a  boat  down 
the  Mississippi,  no  one  knew  where ;  it  is  said  to  St.  Louis. 
Captain  Schneidan  saw  Rooth  on  the  very  morning  when 
the  intelligence  of  this  reached  him.  He  was  pale  and 
scarcely  in  his  right  senses.  In  this  excited  state  of  mind 
he  hastened  to  Eric  Jansen,  whom  he  met  just  setting  off 
to  church  in  the  midst  of  his  followers.  He  thus  address- 
ed him: 

"You  have  had  my  wife  and  child  carried  off,  I  know 
not  where.  They  are  perhaps  dead,  and  I  may  never  see 
them  more !  I  do  not  care  to  live  any  longer  myself,  but 
you  shall  die  first !"  And,  so  saying,  he  drew  forth  a  pis- 
tol and  shot  him  in  the  breast.  Eric  Jansen  died  almost 
in  a  moment.  Rooth  made  no  attempt  to  fly,  but  allowed 
himself  to  be  seized  by  the  exasperated  people. 

The  little  colony  amounts  to  between  seven  and  eight 
hundred  persons,  and  is  now  under  the  government  of  two 
men  whom  they  have  selected,  and  they  continue  to  hold 
the  same  religious  faith  in  freedom  from  sin  as  during  the 
life  of  their  first  leader.  Taken  abstractedly,  their  faith 
is  not  erroneous.  The  new  man  does  not  sin;  but  then 
they  overlook  the  fact  that  sin  is  never  perfectly  eradicated 


70  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

from  the  human  heart  here  on  earth,  and  that,  therefore, 
we  must  always  remain  sinful  creatures  till  the  time  of 
our  conversion  arrives.  The  principal  error  of  the  Swed- 
ish emigrants  consists  in  their  faith  in  the  sinner  Eric 
Jansen,  and  in  sinners  such  as  themselves. 

The  weather  is  wet  and  chilly.  The  scenery  of  the 
banks  is  still  of  a  highland  character,  but  decreases  in 
magnificence  and  beauty.  The  hills  are  broken  up,  as  it 
were,  and  lie  scattered  over  the  prairies,  which  terminate 
with  the  river.  White  towns  and  churches  shine  out  here 
and  there  along  the  shores.  "We  are  here  on  the  shore  of 
Illinois.  Rock  Island  is  situated  at  the  outlet  of  the  Illi- 
nois into  the  Mississippi.  On  the  opposite  side  lies  the 
State  of  Iowa,  and  there  shines  out  white  and  lovely  the 
little  city  of  Davenport,  which  derives  its  name  from  its 
founder,  and  its  celebrity  from  a  horrible  murder  commit- 
ted there  on  the  person  of  an  old  man,  one  Sunday  morn- 
ing, by  four  young  men,  for  his  money.  It  is  not  long 
since.  Bloody  deeds  have  happened  and  still  happen  on 
the  banks  of  the  Mississippi. 

November  3d.  We  steam  down  the  Mississippi  but  slow- 
ly. The  steamer  drags  along  with  her  two  huge  barks  or 
flat-boats,  laden  probably  with  lead  from  Galena,  one  on 
each  side  of  the  vessel.  They  say  that  these  are  a  means 
of  safety  in  case  any  accident  should  befall  the  steamer, 
and  her  passengers  thus  be  in  danger ;  they  might  then 
save  themselves  in  the  flat-boats.  But  they  make  the 
voyage  very  slow,  and  in  the  night  I  hear  such  extraordi- 
nary noises,  thunderings  and  grindings  in  the  vessel,  as  if 
it  were  panting,  bellowing,  and  groaning  under  its  heavy 
labor,  and  were  ready  to  give  up  the  ghost.  These  are 
probably  occasioned  by  its  hard  work  with  the  flat-boats. 
But  it  is  not  agreeable,  and  the  sound  is  so  dreadful  at 
night  that  I  always  lie  down  dressed,  ready  to  show  my- 
self in  public  in  case  of  an  explosion.  Such  misadven- 
tures are  of  every-day  occurrence  on  the  Mississippi,  and 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  7j 

one  hears  frequently  of  such  also  on  other  rivers  and  on 
the  lakes  of  this  country.  Several  of  the  passengers  on 
board  have  with  them  life-preservers,  belts  or  girdles 
of  caoutchouc,  to  save  them  in  case  of  danger.  I  have 
none ;  I  have  here  neither  an  intimate  acquaintance  nor 
friend,  who  would  put  forth  his  hand  to  me  in  a  moment 
of  danger.  But  I  know  not  how  it  is ;  I  feel  as  if  there 
were  no  need  for  fear.  Only  I  am  always  prepared  for  a 
nocturnal  "start." 

The  captain  of  the  steamer  is  evidently  a  prudent  gen- 
eral, and  all  goes  on  calmly  and  well.  The  table  is 
abundant  and  excellent.  The  only  thing  that  I  feel  the 
want  of  is  milk  for  coffee  and  tea ;  cream  is  a  thing  not 
to  be  thought  of,  and  is  seldom  met  with  any  where  in 
this  country.  One  must  learn  to  dispense  with  milk  on 
one's  river  voyages  in  the  "West  and  South.  I  can  man- 
age to  swallow  coffee  without  milk  ;  but  it  is  almost  im- 
possible for  me  to  take  tea  without  it.  I  made  a  little 
complaint  about  it  at  tea  last  evening. 

"  Well !"  said  a  Colonel  Baxter,  an  excellent  man,  op- 
posite to  me,  "  we  frequently  did  not  taste  milk  for  many 
weeks  together  during  the  Mexican  war  !" 

"  Oh !"  said  I,  "  but  then  you  had  glory  to  console 
yourselves  with.  What  can  not  people  dispense  with 
when  they  have  that !  But  here  in  a  steam-boat,  without 
glory  and  without  milk  !  it  is  too  much  !" 

They  laughed,  and  this  morning  we  had  plenty  of  milk 
to  breakfast. 

The  greater  number  of  the  attendants  are  negroes. 
The  stewardess  is  a  mulatto,  neither  agreeable  nor  good 
tempered.  There  are  not  many  passengers  in  the  better 
part  of  the  vessel,  and  by  no  means  disagreeable.  The 
gentlemen's  side  is  rather  full ;  two  thirds  of  these  have 
a  somewhat  common  appearance ;  they  are  "  business- 
men" from  head  to  foot. 

I  spend  most  of  my  time  in  my  pleasant  little  state- 


72  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

room,  or  in  walking  backward  and  forward  under  the 
piazza,  in  front  of  it,  where  I  amuse  myself  by  the  spec- 
tacle of  the  river  and  its  shores.  The  waters  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi still  retain  their  bright  yellow-green  color,  though 
they  are  beginning  to  be  turbid.  Three-decked  steamers, 
large  and  small,  with  their  pair  of  chimneys,  puffing  out 
vehemently  under  the  influence  of  "  high  pressure"  as 
they  advance  up  the  stream,  speed  past  us  ;  vast  timber- 
floats,  upon  which  people  both  build  and  cook,  row  down 
the  stream  with  gigantic  oars  ;  covered  barks,  vessels, 
and  boats  of  every  description  and  size  are  seen  upon  the 
river.  It  becomes  more  animated  and  broader,  but  still 
continues  to  flow  on  with  a  majestic  calmness. 

On  our  right  lies  the  State  of  Iowa  Illinois  on  the  left. 
The  views  are  grand  and  extensive ;  broad  stretches  of 
valley  expand ;  the  hills  become  lower ;  the  land,  to  a 
great  distance,  slopes  gradually  down  to  the  river  in  gen- 
tle, billowy  meadows,  with  a  background  of  wood.  It 
has  a  beautiful  and  fertile  appearance,  but  is  not  much 
cultivated.  We  are  now  in  the  corn  regions  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley  ;  rich  in  all  kinds  of  grain,  but  principally 
in  the  rich  golden-yellow  maize. 

Along  the  Mississippi,  through  its  whole  extent,  from 
Minnesota  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  lies  a  pearl-band  of 
states.  There  are  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  river  Wis- 
consin, Illinois,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Mississippi,  and 
Louisiana  ;  and  on  the  western  side,  Iowa,  Missouri,  Ar- 
kansas, and  Louisiana,  for,  like  Minnesota,  Louisiana 
embraces  both  banks  of  the  Mississippi ;  Minnesota  at  its 
commencement  among  the  hills,  Louisiana  at  its  outlet 
into  the  sea.  Between  these  two  states,  Minnesota  in  the 
north,  and  Louisiana  in  the  south,  flows  the  Mississippi, 
through  a  variety  of  regions  distinguished  by  dissimilar 
climates  and  natural  productions.  Minnesota  is  its  north, 
with  the  pine  forests  of  the  North,  and  Northern  winters, 
with  bears  and  elks,  with  the  wild  roses  and  the  berries 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  73 

of  the  North,  with  primeval  forests  and  Indians.  Wiscon- 
sin, Illinois,  Kentucky,  Tennessee  in  the  east,  Iowa  and 
Missouri,  and  a  part  of  Arkansas  in  the  west,  are  situated 
within  the  temperate  zone.  Agriculture  and  civilization 
are  extending  there.  These  states,  like  their  neighboring 
states  in  the  East,  Michigan,  Indiana,  and  Ohio,  consti- 
tute the  great  corn  magazine  of  America,  and  the  central 
portion  of  the  Mississippi  Valley.  Beyond  these,  to  the 
east,  extend  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  and  the  Eastern 
or  Atlantic  States.  Beyond  the  Mississippi  States,  to  the 
west,  extends  the  Indian  wilderness,  Nebraska,  and  the 
Rocky  Mountains.  With  Tennessee  on  the  east,  and 
Arkansas  on  the  west,  we  enter  the  region  of  cotton  ;  with 
Louisiana,  the  region  of  sugar,  the  south,  and  summer 
life. 

Illinois  and  Iowa  are  still  free  states ;  to  the  south  of 
these  lie  the  Slave  States.  In  Illinois  and  Iowa  there  are 
Swedish  and  Norwegian  settlements,  but  further  south 
they  have  not  yet  advanced.  The  central  Mississippi 
States  are  occupied  more  by  Germans  and  Irish ;  and 
more  southern  still,  by  French  and  Spaniards.  All  these 
are  governed  by  the  laws  and  manners  of  the  Anglo-Nor- 
man race.  It  is  the  same  with  the  Jews,  who  are  very 
numerous  in  America,  especially  in  the  West.  But  they 
also  enjoy  all  civil  rights  like  natives  of  the  country,  and 
are  much  less  distinguished  from  the  European  popula- 
tion here  than  they  are  in  Europe  ;  so  little,  indeed,  that 
I  have  scarcely  ever  thought  "that  is  a  Jew,"  it  being 
hardly  possible  to  distinguish  a  Jew  in  this  country  from 
a  dark-complexioned  American. 

We  are  now  within  sight  of  Nauvoo,  formerly  the  cap- 
ital of  the  Mormon  district,  and  the  magnificent  ruin  of 
their  former  temple  is  seen  standing  on  its  elevated  site. 
One  of  my  friends,  who  some  years  ago  was  traveling  on 
the  Mississippi,  went  on  shore  at  Nauvoo,  a  few  days  aft- 
er the  Mormon  prophet,  Joe  Smith,  was  killed  by  the  peo- 

Vol.  II.— D 


74  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

pie  of  Illinois.  He  saw  the  people  of  the  town  and  the 
district,  a  population  of  about  twenty  thousand,  come 
forth  from  their  dwellings  to  the  singing  of  psalms ;  saw 
them  advance  westward  into  the  wilderness  to  seek  there 
for  that  promised  land  which  their  prophet  had  foretold  to 
them.  After  a  wandering  of  three  thousand  miles  through 
wildernesses,  amid  manifold  dangers  and  difficulties,  and 
the  endurance  of  much  suffering,  they  arrived  at  the  Great 
Salt  Lake,  and  its  fertile  shores.  There  they  have  with- 
in a  few  years  so  greatly  increased  and  multiplied,  that 
they  are  now  in  a  fair  way  to  become  a  powerful  state. 
Faith  can,  even  in  these  days,  remove  mountains — nay, 
more,  can  remove  great  cities.  Nauvoo  is  now  purchased 
by  the  French  communist,  Cabet,  who  will  there  estab- 
lish a  society  of  "  Egalitaire." 

Yes,  in  this  Great  West,  on  the  shores  of  the  Great 
River,  exist  very  various  scenes  and  peoples.  There  are 
Indians ;  there  are  squatters  ;  there  are  Scandinavians, 
with  gentle  manners  and  cheerful  songs ;  there  are  Mor- 
mons, Christian  in  manners,  but  fanatics  in  their  faith  in 
one  man  (and  Eric  Jansenists  are  in  this  respect  similar 
to  the  Mormons) ;  there  are  desperate  adventurers,  with 
neither  faith  nor  law,  excepting  in  Mammon  and  club- 
law  ;  gamblers,  murderers,  and  thieves,  who  are  without 
conscience,  and  their  number  and  their  exploits  increase 
along  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  the  further  we  advance 
south.  There  are  giants,  who  are  neither  good  nor  evil, 
but  who  perform  great  deeds  through  the  force  of  their 
will,  and  their  great  physical  powers,  and  their  passion 
for  enterprise.  There  are  worshipers  of  freedom  and  com- 
munists ;  there  are  slave-owners  and  slaves.  There  are 
communities  who  build,  as  bees  and  beavers  do,  from  in- 
stinct and  natural  necessity.  There  are  also,  clear-head- 
ed strong,  and  pious  men,  worthy  to  be  leaders,  who  know 
what  they  are  about,  and  who  have  laid  their  strong  hand 
to  the  work  of  cultivation.     There  are  great  cities  which 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  75 

develop  the  highest  luxury  of  civilization,  and  its  highest 
crimes  ;  who  build  altars  to  Mammon,  and  would  make 
the  whole  world  subservient.  There  are  also  small  com- 
munities which  possess  themselves  of  land  in  the  power 
of  the  peace  principle,  and  in  the  name  of  the  Prince  of 
Peace.  Lydia  Maria  Child  tells  us  of  such  an  one,  either 
in  Indiana  or  Illinois.  It  is  a  short  story,  and  so  beau- 
tiful that  I  must  repeat  it  in  her  own  living  and  earnest 
words. 

"  The  highest  gifts  my  soul  has  received,  during  its  wild 
pilgrimage,  have  often  been  bestowed  by  those  who  were 
poor,  both  in  money  and  intellectual  cultivation.  Among 
these  donors,  I  particularly  remember  a  hard-working,  un- 
educated mechanic  from  Indiana  or  Illinois.  He  told  me 
that  he  was  one  of  the  thirty  or  forty  New  Englanders 
who,  twelve  years  before,  had  gone  out  to  settle  in  the 
Western  wilderness.  They  were  mostly  neighbors,  and 
had  been  drawn  to  unite  together  in  emigration  from  a 
general  unity  of  opinion  on  various  subjects.  For  some 
years  previous,  they  had  been  in  the  habit  of  meeting  oc- 
casionally at  each  other's  houses  to  talk  over  their  duties 
to  God  and  man  in  all  simplicity  of  heart,  Their  library 
was  the  Gospel,  their  priesthood  the  inward  light.  There 
were  then  no  anti-slavery  societies ;  but  thus  taught,  and 
reverently  willing  to  learn,  they  had  no  need  of  such  agen- 
cy to  discover  that  it  was  wicked  to  enslave.  The  efforts 
of  peace  societies  had  reached  this  secluded  band  only  in 
broken  echoes,  and  non-resistance  societies  had  no  exist- 
ence. But  with  the  volume  of  the  Prince  of  Peace,  and 
hearts  open  to  his  influence,  what  need  had  they  of  pre- 
ambles and  resolutions  ? 

"  Rich  in  spiritual  culture,  this  little  band  started  for 
the  Far  West.  Their  inward  homes  were  blooming  gar- 
dens ;  they  made  their  outward  a  wilderness.  They  were 
industrious  and  frugal,  and  all  things  prospered  under  their 
hand.     But  soon  wolves  came  near  the  fold,  in  the  shape 


76  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

of  reckless,  unprincipled  adventurers;  believers  in  force 
and  cunning,  who  acted  according  to  their  creed.  The 
colony  of  practical  Christians  spoke  of  their  depredations 
in  terms  of  gentlest  remonstrance,  and  repaid  them  with 
unvarying  kindness.  They  went  further— they  openly 
announced,  '  You  may  do  us  what  evil  you  choose,  we 
will  return  nothing  but  good.'  Lawyers  came  into  the 
neighborhood,  and  offered  their  services  to  settle  disputes. 
They  answered,  f  We  have  no  need  of  you.  As  neighbors, 
we  receive  you  in  the  most  friendly  spirit ;  but  for  us,  your 
occupation  has  ceased  to  exist.'  'What  will  you  do  if 
rascals  burn  your  barns  and  steal  your  harvests  V  '  We 
will  return  good  for  evil.  We  believe  this  is  the  highest 
truth,  therefore  the  best  expediency.' 

"  When  the  rascals  heard  this,  they  considered  it  a  mar- 
velous good  joke,  and  said  and  did  many  provoking  things 
which  seemed  to  them  witty.  Bars  were  taken  down  in 
the  night,  and  cows  let  into  corn-fields.  The  Christians 
repaired  the  damage  as  well  as  they  could,  put  the  cows 
in  the  barn,  and  at  twilight  drove  them  gently  home,  say- 
ing, '  Neighbor,  your  cows  have  been  in  my  field.  I  have 
fed  them  well  during  the  day,  but  I  would  not  keep  them 
all  night,  lest  the  children  should  suffer  for  their  milk.' 

"  If  this  was  fun,  they  who  planned  the  joke  had  no 
heart  to  laugh  at  it.  By  degrees,  a  visible  change  came 
over  these  troublesome  neighbors.  They  ceased  to  cut  off 
horses'  tails,  and  break  the  legs  of  poultry.  Brute  boys 
would  say  to  a  younger  brother,  '  Don't  throw  that  stone, 
Bill !  When  I  killed  the  chicken  last  week,  didn't  they 
send  it  to  mother,  because  they  thought  chicken  broth 
would  be  good  for  poor  Mary?  I  should  think  you'd  be 
ashamed  to  throw  stones  at  their  chickens.'  Thus  was 
evil  overcome  with  good,  till  not  one  was  found  to  do  them 
willful  injury.  Years  passed  on,  and  saw  them  thriving 
in  worldly  substance  beyond  their  neighbors,  yet  beloved 
by  all.     From  them  the  lawyer  and  the  constable  obtained 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  77 

no  fees.  The  sheriff  stammered  and  apologized  when  he 
took  their  hard-earned  goods  in  payment  for  the  war-tax. 
They  mildly  replied,  "Tis  a  bad  trade,  friend.  Examine 
it  in  the  light  of  conscience,  and  see  if  it  be  not  so.'  But 
while  they  refused  to  pay  such  fees  and  taxes,  they  were 
liberal  to  a  proverb  in  their  contributions  for  all  useful 
and  benevolent  purposes. 

"  At  the  end  of  ten  years,  the  public  lands,  which  they 
had  chosen  for  their  farms,  were  advertised  for  sale  by 
auction.  According  to  custom,  those  who  had  settled  and 
cultivated  the  soil  were  considered  to  have  a  right  to  bid 
it  in  at  the  government  price,  which  at  that  time  was 
125  dollars  per  acre.  But  the  fever  of  land  speculation 
then  chanced  to  run  unusually  high.  Adventurers  from 
all  parts  of  the  country  were  flocking  to  the  auction ;  and 
capitalists  in  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  New  York,  and  Bos- 
ton were  sending  agents  to  buy  "Western  lands.  No  one 
supposed  that  custom  or  equity  would  be  regarded.  The 
first  day's  sale  showed  that  speculation  ran  to  the  verge 
of  insanity.  Land  was  eagerly  bought  in  at  seventeen, 
twenty-five,  and  thirty  dollars  an  acre.  The  Christian 
colony  had  small  hope  of  retaining  their  farms.  As  first 
settlers,  they  had  chosen  the  best  land,  and  persevering 
industry  had  brought  it  into  the  highest  cultivation.  Its 
market  value  was  much  greater  than  the  acres  already 
sold  at  exorbitant  prices.  In  view  of  these  facts,  they  had 
prepared  their  minds  for  another  remove  into  the  wilder- 
ness, perhaps  to  be  again  ejected  by  a  similar  process. 
But  the  morning  their  lot  was  offered  for  sale,  they  ob- 
served with  grateful  surprise  that  their  neighbors  were 
every  where  busy  among  the  crowd  begging  and  expostu- 
lating :  '  Don't  bid  on  these  lands  !  these  men  have  been 
working  hard  on  them  for  ten  yeajrs.  During  all  that 
time,  they  never  did  harm  to  man  or  brute.  They  were 
always  ready  to  do  good  for  evil.  They  are  a  blessing  to 
any  neighborhood.     It  would  be  a  sin  and  shame  to  bid 


78  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

on  their  lands.  Let  them  go  at  the  government  price.' 
The  sale  came  on ;  the  cultivators  of  the  soil  offered  1*25 
dollars,  intending  to  bid  higher  if  necessary.  But  among 
all  that  crowd  of  selfish,  reckless  speculators,  not  one  bid 
over  them!  "Without  an  opposing  voice,  the  fair  acres 
returned  to  them !  I  do  not  know  a  more  remarkable  in- 
stance of  evil  overcome  with  good.  The  wisest  political 
economy  lies  folded  up  in  the  maxims  of  Christ. 

"  With  delighted  reverence  I  listened  to  this  unlettered 
backwoodsman,  as  he  explained  his  philosophy  of  univers- 
al love,  f  What  would  you  do,'  said  I,  '  if  an  idle,  thiev- 
ing vagabond  came  among  you,  resolved  to  stay,  but  de- 
termined not  to  wTork  V  '  We  would  give  him  food  when 
hungry,  shelter  him  when  cold,  and  always  treat  him  as 
a  brother.'  '  Would  not  this  process  attract  such  charac- 
ters ?  How  would  you  avoid  being  overrun  by  them  ?' 
*  Such  characters  would  either  reform  or  not  remain  with 
us.  We  should  never  speak  an  angry  word,  or  refuse  to 
minister  to  their  necessities,  but  we  should  invariably  re- 
gard them  with  the  deepest  sadness,  as  we  would  a  guilty 
or  beloved  son.  This  is  harder  for  the  human  soul  to  bear 
than  whips  or  prisons.  They  would  not  stand  it ;  I  am 
sure  they  could  not.  It  would  either  melt  them  or  drive 
them  away.  In  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  I  believe,  it  would 
melt  them.' " 

Lydia  Maria  Child  adds,  "  This,  the  wisest  doctrine  of 
political  economy,  is  included  in  the  doctrines  of  Christ." 
As  for  me,  these  words  run  in  my  mind,  "Blessed  are  the 
peace-makers,  for  they  shall  possess  the  earth."  And 
when  I  look  around  me  in  these  regions  for  that  which  is 
the  most  triumphant  and  the  most  overpowering  element 
in  the  Mississippi  States,  and  among  the  freebooters  of 
California  at  the  present  time,  I  see  clearly  that  it  is  the 
power  and  dominion  of  the  peace-maker. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  79 

On  the  Mississippi,  near  the  Rapids,  November  3d. 

We  have  lain  still  for  several  hours.  The  river  has 
here  a  dangerous,  sharp,  rocky  bottom,  and,  as  the  water 
is  low,  the  passage  is  dangerous.  They  wait  for  the  wind 
becoming  perfectly  still,  that  they  may  discern,  the  places 
where  the  stream  is  rippled  by  the  rocks.  It  is  already 
so  calm  that  I  can  scarcely  imagine  how  it  can  be  calmer. 
The  Mississippi  glances  like  a  mirror  in  the  sunshine, 
merely  here  and  there  furrowed  by  the  stream.  It  is  now 
quite  as  warm  as  summer,  and  I  am  impatient  at  lying 
quiet  in  the  heat  and  the  strong  sunshine.  The  bed  of 
the  Mississippi  has  not  been  cleared,  and  it  is  a  sign  that 
the  government  of  the  United  States  has  its  deficiencies 
and  its  shallows,  when  they  can  tolerate  such  impedi- 
ments on  a  great  river  where  there  is  such  constant  traf- 
fic. But  it  is  not  agreed  as  to  whether  the  government 
or  the  people  ought  to  do  the  work,  and  therefore  it  re- 
mains undone,  to  the  great  detriment  of  the  traffic  of  the 
river. 

I  have  made  two  agreeable  acquaintances  on  board,  in 
two  gentlemen  from  Connecticut,  strong,  downright  Yan- 
kees ;  and  the  young  daughter  of  one,  a  most  charming 
girl  of  twenty — a  fresh  flower,  both  body  and  soul — a 
splendid  specimen  of  the  daughters  of  New  England.  We 
have  also  now  a  pair  of  giant  women  on  board,  such  as 
belong  to  the  old  mythological  population  of  Utgaerd ;  and 
I  have  been  particularly  amused  by  the  conflict  between 
the  wild  and  the  cultivated  races  in  the  persons  of  one  of 
these  ladies  and  my  lovely  flower  of  New  England.  The 
former,  in  a  steel-gray  dress,  with  a  gray,  fierce  counte- 
nance, stiff  and  middle-aged,  sat  smoking  her  pipe  in  the 
ladies'  saloon  when  we  entered  it  from  the  dining-hall  in 
the  afternoon.  She  sat  in  the  middle  of  the  room,  and 
puffed  out  the  smoke  vehemently,  and  looked  as  if  she 
would  set  the  whole  world  at  defiance.  The  ladies  look- 
ed at  her,  looked  at  each  other,  were  silent,  and  endured 


80  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

it  for  a  while ;  the  smoke,  however,  became  at  length  in- 
tolerable, and  one  whispered  to  another  that  something 
must  be  done  to  put  a  stop  to  this  unallowable  smoking. 

Miss  S.  called  the  stewardess  :  "  You  must  tell  that  lady 
that  it  is  not  permitted  to  smoke  in  this  room." 

"I  have  told  her  so,  Missis,  but  she  takes  no  notice.  It 
is  of  no  use  talking  to  her." 

Again  they  waited  a  while  to  see  whether  the  smoking 
lady  would  not  pay  attention  to  silent,  but  very  evident 
signs  of  displeasure.  But  no,  she  sat  as  unmoved  as  ever, 
and  filled  the  room  with  smoke. 

The  lovely  young  Miss  S.  now  summoned  courage,  ad- 
vanced toward  the  smoker,  and  said,  in  a  very  polite,  but, 
at  the  same  time,  firm  and  dignified  manner,  "I  don't 
know  whether  you  have  observed  that  your  cabin  has  a 
door  which  opens  on  the  piazza,  and — it  would  be  much 
more  agreeable  for  you,  and  for  all  of  us,  if  you  would 
smoke  your  pipe  there." 

"No.     I  prefer  smoking  here  in  this  room." 

"But  it  is  forbidden  to  smoke  here." 

"It  is  forbidden  for  gentlemen,  but  not  for  ladies." 

"  It  is  forbidden  to  smoke  here,  as  well  for  you  as  for 
any  one  else  ;  and  I  must  beg  of  you,  in  the  name  of  all 
the  ladies  present,  that  you  will  desist  from  so  doing." 

This  was  said  with  so  much  earnestness,  and  so  much 
grace  at  the  same  time,  that  the  giant  woman  seemed 
struck  by  it. 

"No,  well!  wait  a  bit!"  said  she,  angrily;  and,  after 
she  had  vehemently  blown  out  a  great  puff  of  tobacco- 
smoke  by  way  of  a  parting  token,  she  rose  up  and  went 
into  her  own  apartment.  The  power  of  cultivation  had 
gained  the  victory  over  rudeness;  the  gods  had  conquered 
the  giants. 

We  shall  now  proceed  on  our  way,  but  by  land,  and  not 
by  water.  Our  heavily-laden  vessel  can  not  pass  the  shal- 
lows.    It  must  be  unloaded  here.     The  passengers  must 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  81 

proceed  by  carriages  about  fifteen  or  sixteen  miles  along 
the  Iowa  shore  to  a  little  city  where  they  may  take  a  fresh 
steamer,  and  where  there  are  no  longer  any  impediments 
in  the  river.  My  new  friends  from  Connecticut  wj^L  take 
me  under  their  wing. 

St.  Louis,  November  8th. 

I  am  now  at  St.  Louis,  on  the  western  bank  of  the  river, 
deliberating  whether  or  not  to  go  to  a  bridal  party  to  which 
I  am  invited,  and  where  I  should  see  a  very  lovely  bride 
and  "the  cream  of  society"  in  this  great  Mississippi  city, 
the  second  after  New  Orleans.  I  saw  the  bridegroom  this 
forenoon,  as  well  as  the  bride's  mother ;  he  is  a  very  rich 
planter  from  Florida,  and  very  much  of  a  gentleman,  an 
agreeable  man.  The  bride's  mother  is  a  young-elderly 
beauty,  polite  but  artificial ;  somewhat  above  fifty,  with 
bare  neck,  bare  arms,  rouged  cheeks,  perfumed,  and  with 
a  fan  in  her  hand ;  a  lady  of  fashion  and  French  politeness. 
They  have  invited  me  for  the  evening.  An  agreeable  and 
kind  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Downing's,  to  whom  I  had  a  let- 
ter, would  conduct  me  thither  in  company  with  his  wife, 
"but — but — I  have  a  cold,  and  I  feel  myself  too  old  for 
such  festivals,  at  which  I  am,  besides,  half  killed  with 
questions ;  so  that  the  nearer  it  approaches  the  hour  of 
dressing,  the  clearer  becomes  it  to  my  own  mind  that  I 
must  remain  quietly  in  my  own  room.  I  like  to  see  hand- 
some ladies  and  beautiful  toilets,  but — I  can  have  suffi- 
cient descriptions  of  these,  and  I  have  seen  enough  of  the 
beau  monde  in  the  Eastern  States  to  be  able  to  imagine 
how  it  is  in  the  West. 

I  am  now  at  an  hotel,  but  shall  remove,  either  to-mor- 
row or  the  day  after,  to  the  house  of  Senator  Allen,  a  little 
way  out  of  the  city. 

I  came  here  yesterday  with  my  friends  from  Connecti- 
cut. The  journey  across  the  Iowa  prairie  in  a  half-cover- 
ed wagon  was  very  pleasant.  The  weather  was  as  warm 
as  a  summer's  day,  and  the  sun  shone  above  a  fertile, 

D2 


82  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

billowy  plain,  which  extended  far,  far  into  the  distance. 
Three  fourths  of  the  land  of  Iowa  are  said  to  be  of  this 
billowy  prairie-land.  The  country  did  not  appear  to  be 
cultivated,  but  looked  extremely  beautiful  and  home-like, 
an  immense  pasture-meadow.  The  scenery  of  the  Missis- 
sippi is  of  a  bright,  cheerful  character. 

In  the  afternoon  we  reached  the  little  town  of  Keokuk, 
nu  a  high  bank  by  the  river.  We  ate  a  good  dinner  at  a 
good  inn;  tea  was  served  for  soup,  which  is  a  general 
practice  at  dinners  in  the  Western  inns.  It  was  not  till 
late  in  the  evening  that  the  vessel  came  by  which  we  were 
to  continue  our  journey,  and  in  the  mean  time  I  set  off 
alone  on  a  journey  of  discovery.  I  left  behind  me  the 
young  city  of  the  Mississippi,  which  has  a  good  situation, 
and  followed  a  path  which  led  up  the  hill  along  the  river 
side.  The  sun  was  descending,  and  clouds  of  a  pale 
crimson  tint  covered  the  western  heavens.  The  air  was 
mild  and  calm,  the  whole  scene  expansive,  bright,  and 
calm,  and  idyllian  landscape  on  a  large  scale. 

Small  houses,  at  short  distances  from  each  other,  stud- 
ded this  hill  by  the  river  side ;  they  were  neatly  built  of 
wood,  of  good  proportions,  and  with  that  appropriateness 
and  cleverness  which  distinguishes  the  work  of  the  Amer- 
icans. They  were  each  one  like  the  other,  and  seemed  to 
be  the  habitations  of  work-people.  Most  of  the  doors 
stood  open,  probably  to  admit  the  mild  evening  air.  I 
availed  myself  of  this  circumstance  to  gain  a  sight  of  the 
interior,  and  fell  into  discourse  with  two  of  the  good  wom- 
en of  the  houses.  They  were,  as  I  had  imagined,  the 
dwellings  of  artisans  who  had  work  in  the  town.  There 
was  no  luxury  in  these  small  habitations,  but  every  thing 
was  so  neat  and  orderly,  so  ornamental,  and  there  was 
such  a  holiday  calm  over  every  thing,  from  the  mistress  of 
the  family  down  to  the  very  furniture,  that  it  did  one  good 
to  see  it.  It  was  also  Sunday  evening,  and  the  peace  of 
the  Sabbath  rested  within  the  home  as  well  as  over  the 
country. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  53 

When  I  returned  to  my  herberg  in  the  town  it  was  quite 
dusk ;  but  it  had,  in  the  mean  time,  been  noised  abroad 
that  some  sort  of  Scandinavian  animal  was  to  be  seen  at 
the  inn,  and  it  was  now  requested  to  come  and  show  itself. 

I  went  down,  accordingly,  into  the  large  saloon,  and 
found  a  great  number  of  people  there,  principally  of  the 
male  sex,  who  increased  more  and  more  until  there  was  a 
regular  throng,  and  I  had  to  shake  hands  with  many  most 
extraordinary  figures.  But  one  often  sees  such  here  in  the 
West.  The  men  work  hard,  and  are  careless  regarding 
their  toilet ;  they  do  not  give  themselves  time  to  attend  to 
it ;  but  their  unkemmed  outsides  are  no  type  of  that  which 
is  within,  as  I  frequently  observed  this  evening.  I  also 
made  a  somewhat  closer  acquaintance,  to  my  real  pleas- 
ure, with  a  little  company  of  more  refined  people ;  I  say 
refined  intentionally,  not  better,  because  those  phrases, 
better  and  worse,  are  always  indefinite,  and  less  suitable 
in  this  country  than  in  any  other;  I  mean  well-bred  and 
well-dressed  ladies  and  gentlemen,  the  aristocracy  of  Ke- 
okuk. Not  being  myself  of  a  reserved  disposition,  I  like 
the  American  open,  frank,  and  friendly  manner.  It  is  easy 
to  become  acquainted,  and  it  is  very  soon  evident  whether 
there  is  reciprocity  of  feeling  or  not. 

We  went  on  board  between  ten  and  eleven  at  night, 
and  the  next  morning  were  in  the  waters  of  the  Missouri, 
which  rush  into  those  of  the  Mississippi,  about  eighteen 
miles  north  of  St.  Louis,  with  such  vehemence,  and  with 
such  a  volume  of  water,  that  it  altogether  changes  the 
character  of  the  Mississippi.  There  is  an  end  now  to  its 
calmness  and  its  bright  tint.  It  now  flows  onward  rest- 
less and  turbid,  and  stocks  and  trees,  and  every  kind  of 
lumber  which  can  float,  are  whirled  along  upon  its  waves, 
all  carried  hither  by  the  Missouri,  which,  during  its  impet- 
uous career  of  more  than  three  thousand  miles  through 
the  wilderness  of  the  West,  bears  along  with  it  every  thing 
which  it  finds  on  its  way.     Missouri  is  a  sort  of  Xantippe, 


84  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

but  Mississippi  is  no  Socrates,  because  he  evidently  allows 
himself  to  be  disturbed  by  the  influence  of  his  ill-temper- 
ed spouse. 

Opposite  St.  Louis  boys  were  rowing  about  in  little 
boats,  endeavoring  to  fish  up  planks  and  branches  of  trees 
which  were  floating  on  the  river. 

The  first  view  of  St.  Louis  was  very  peculiar.  The 
city  looks  as  if  it  were  besieged  from  the  side  of  the  river 
by  a  number  of  immense  Mississippi  beasts,  resembling  a 
sort  of  colossal  white  sea-bears.  And  so  they  were ;  they 
were  those  large,  three-decked,  white-painted  steamers, 
which  lined  the  shore,  lying  closely  side  by  side  to  the 
number  of  above  a  hundred ;  their  streamers,  with  names 
from  all  the  countries  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  fluttering 
in  the  wind  above  their  chimneys,  which  seemed  to  me 
like  immense  nostrils ;  for  every  steam-boat  on  the  Missis- 
sippi has  two  such  apparatus,  which  send  forth  huge  vol- 
umes of  smoke  under  the  influence  of  "high  pressure." 

"When  we  reached  St.  Louis  it  was  as  warm  as  the  mid- 
dle of  summer,  and  many  of  the  trees  in  the  streets  yet 
bore  verdant  foliage.  I  recognize  the  tree  of  the  South, 
the  "pride  of  India,"  which  bears  clusters  of  flowers  like 
lilac  during  the  time  of  flowering,  and  afterward  clusters 
of  red,  poisonous  berries ;  and  the  beautiful  acacia,  alan- 
thus,  and  sycamore. 

November  lih.  Scarcely  had  I  reached  St.  Louis  when 
I  was  obliged  to  take  to  my  bed  in  consequence  of  violent 
headache.  My  charming  young  friend  from  New  En- 
gland attended  me  as  a  young  sister  might  have  done. 
When  she  was  obliged  to  leave  me  to  proceed  forward 
with  her  father,  I  found  here  an  Irish  servant-girl,  who 
looked  after  me  excellently  during  my  short  indisposition. 
I  was  better,  and  then  went  to  pay  a  morning  visit  to  the 
bridal  pair,  who  are  now  residing  at  the  hotel.  It  was  in 
the  forenoon;  but  the  room  in  which  the  bride  sat  was 
darkened,  and  was  only  faintly  lighted  up  by  the  blaze 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  85 

of  the  fire.  The  bride  was  tall  and  delicately  formed, 
but  too  thin,  but  for  all  this  lovely,  and  with  a  blooming 
complexion.  She  was  quite  young,  and  struck  me  like  a 
rare  hot-house  plant,  scarcely  able  to  endure  the  free  winds 
of  the  open  air.  Her  long,  taper  fingers  played  with  a 
number  of  little  valuables  fastened  to  a  gold  chain,  which, 
hanging  round  her  neck,  reached  to  her  waist.  Her  dress 
was  costly  and  tasteful.  She  looked,  however,  more  like 
an  article  of  luxury  than  a  young  woman  meant  to  be 
the  mother  of  a  family.  The  faint  light  of  the  room,  the 
warmth  of  the  fire,  the  soft,  perfumed  atmosphere — every 
thing,  in  short,  around  this  young  bride,  seemed  to  speak 
of  effeminacy.  The  bridegroom,  however,  was  evidently 
no  effeminate  person,  but  a  man  and  a  gentleman.  He 
was  apparently  very  much  enamored  of  his  young  bride, 
whom  he  was  now  about  to  take,  first  to  Cincinnati,  and 
*then  to  Florida  and  its  perpetual  summer.  We  were  re- 
galed with  bride-cake  and  sweet  wine. 

When  I  left  that  perfumed  apartment,  with  its  hot- 
house atmosphere  and  its  half  daylight,  in  which  was 
carefully  tended  a  beautiful  human  flower,  I  was  met  by 
a  heaven  as  blue  as  that  of  spring,  and  by  a  fresh,  vernal 
air,  by  sunshine  and  the  song  of  birds  among  the  whis- 
pering trees.  The  contrast  was  delightful.  Ah,  said  I 
to  myself,  this  is  a  different  life !  After  all,  it  is  not  good ; 
no,  it  is  not  good,  it  has  not  the  freshness  of  Nature,  that 
life  which  so  many  ladies  lead  in  this  country;  that  life 
of  twilight  in  comfortable  rooms,  rocking  themselves  by 
the  fireside  from  one  year's  end  to  another;  that  life  of 
effeminate  warmth  and  inactivity,  by  which  means  they 
exclude  themselves  from  the  fresh  air,  from  fresh  invigor- 
ating life!  And  the  physical  weakness  of  the  ladies  of 
this  country  must,  in  great  measure,  be  ascribed  to  their 
effeminate  education.  It  is  a  sort  of  harem-life,  although 
with  this  difference,  that  they,  unlike  the  Oriental  wom- 
en, are  here  in  the  Western  country  regarded  as  sultan- 


86  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

esses,  and  the  men  as  their  subjects.  It  has,  neverthe- 
less, the  tendency  to  circumscribe  their  development,  and 
to  divert  them  from  their  highest  and  noblest  purpose. 
The  harems  of  the  West,  no  less  than  those  of  the  East, 
degrade  the  life  and  the  consciousness  of  woman. 

After  my  visit  to  the  bride,  I  visited  various  Catholic 
asylums  and  religious  institutions,  under  the  care  of  nuns. 
It  was  another  aspect  of  female  development  which  I  be- 
held here.  I  saw,  in  two  large  asylums  for  poor  orphan 
children,  and  in  an  institution  for  the  restoration  of  fallen 
women  (the  G-ood  Herder's  Asylum),  as  well  as  at  the  hospi- 
tal for  the  sick,  the  women  who  call  themselves  "  Sisters," 
living  a  true  and  grand  life  as  mothers  of  the  orphan,  as 
sisters  and  nurses  of  the  fallen  and  the  suffering.  That 
was  a  refreshing,  that  was  a  strengthening  sight ! 

I  must  observe  that  Catholicism  seems  to  me  at  this 
time  to  go  beyond  Protestantism  in  the  living  imitation 
of  Christ  in  good  works.  The  Catholic  Church  of  the 
New  World  has  commenced  a  new  life.  It  has  cast  off 
the  old  cloak  of  superstition  and  fanaticism,  and  it  steps 
forth  rich  in  mercy.  Convents  are  established  in  the  New 
World  in  a  renovated  spirit.  They  are  freed  from  their 
unmeaning  existence,  and  are  effectual  in  labors  of  love. 

These  convents  here  have  large,  light  halls  instead  of 
gloomy  cells  ;  they  have  nothing  gloomy  or  mysterious 
about  them;  every  thing  is  calculated  to  give  life  and 
light  free  course.  And  how  lovely  they  were,  these  con- 
ventual sisters,  in  their  noble,  worthy  costume,  with  their 
quiet,  fresh  demeanor  and  activity  !  They  seemed  to  me 
lovelier,  fresher,  happier,  than  the  greater  number  of  wom- 
en living  in  the  world  whom  I  have  seen.  I  must  also 
remark  that  their  nuns'  costume — in  particular  the  head- 
dress— was,  with  all  its  simplicity,  remarkably  becoming 
and  in  good  taste;  and  that  gave  me  much  pleasure.  I 
do  not  know  why  beauty  and  piety  should  not  thrive  well 
together.     Those  horrible  bonnets,  or  poke-caps,  which  are 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  87 

worn  by  the  Sisters  of  Mercy  in  Savannah,  would,  if  I 
were  ill,  frighten  me  from  their  hospital.  On  the  contra- 
ry, the  sight  of  these  sisters  here  would  assuredly  make 
a  sick  person  well. 

During  one  of  those  prophetic  visions  with  which  our 
Geijer  closed  his  earthly  career,  he  remarked,  on  a  visit 
to  me,  "  Convents  must  be  re-established  anew ;  not  in 
the  old  form,  but  as  free  societies  of  women  and  men  for 
the  carrying  out  works  of  love!"  I  see  them  coming  into 
operation  in  this  country.  And  they  must  have  yet  a 
freer  and  milder  form  within  the  evangelical  Church.  The 
deaconess  institutions  of  Europe  are  their  commencement. 

The  excess  in  the  number  of  women  in  all  countries 
on  the  face  of  the  earth  shows  that  God  has  an  intention 
in  this  which  man  would  do  well  to  attend  to  more  and 
more.  The  human  race  needs  spiritual  mothers  and  sis- 
ters. "Women  acquire  in  these  holy  sisterhoods  a  power 
for  the  accomplishment  of  such  duty,  which  in  their  iso- 
lated state  they  could  only  obtain  in  exceptional  cases. 
As  the  brides  and  handmaidens  of  Christ,  they  attain  to 
a  higher  life,  a  more  expansive  consciousness,  a  greater 
power.  Whether  similar  religious  societies  of  men  are 
alike  necessary  and  natural  as  those  of  women,  I  will  not 
inquire  into,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  they  are  not.  Men, 
it  appears  to  me,  are  called  to  an  activity  of  another  kind, 
although  for  the  same  ultimate  object — the  extension  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  upon  earth. 

Last  evening  and  the  evening  before  I  made  my  solita- 
ry journeys  of  discovery  both  within  and  without  the  city. 

St.  Louis  is  built  on  a  series  of  wave-like  terraces,  con- 
siderably elevated  above  the  Mississippi.  It  seems  likely 
to  become  an  immense  city,  and  has  begun  to  build  sub- 
urbs on  the  plain  at  great  distances  apart;  but  already 
roads  are  formed,  and  even  a  rail-road  and  streets  from 
one  place  to  another.  These  commencements  of  suburbs 
are  generally  on  high  ground,  which  commands  glorious 


88  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

views  over  the  river  and  the  country.  Thick  columns  of 
coal-black  smoke  ascend,  curling  upward  in  the  calm  air 
from  various  distances,  betokening  the  existence  of  man- 
ufactories. It  has  a  fine  effect  seen  against  the  golden 
sky  of  evening,  but  those  black  columns  send  down  show- 
ers of  smuts  and  ashes  over  the  city,  which  has  not  a  fine 
effect.  They  are  building  in  the  city  lofty  and  vast  ware- 
houses, immense  shops  and  houses  of  business.  The  po- 
sition of  the  city  near  the  junction  of  the  Missouri  and 
the  Mississippi,  its  traffic  on  the  former  river,  with  the 
whole  of  the  Grreat  West,  and  by  the  latter  with  the  North- 
ern, Southern,  and  Eastern  States,  give  to  St.  Louis  the 
means  of  an  almost  unlimited  increase.  Probably  a  rail- 
road will  connect  St.  Louis  with  the  Pacific  Ocean.  It 
is  an  undertaking  which  is  warmly  promoted  by  a  num- 
ber of  active  Western  men,  and  this  would  give  a  still 
higher  importance  to  the  city.  Emigration  hither  also 
increases  every  year,  and  especially  from  Germany.  How 
large  this  increase  is  may  be  shown  by  the  fact  that  in 
1845  its  population  amounted  to  thirty-five  thousand  souls, 
and  that  in  1849  it  was  nearly  double  that  number.  The 
State  of  Missouri  has  now  about  two  millions  of  inhabit- 
ants, and  is  yet,  as  a  state,  not  above  thirty  years  old. 

As  I  wandered  through  the  streets  in  the  twilight  I  saw 
various  figures,  both  of  men  and  animals,  which  gave  me 
any  thing  but  pleasure.  Such  I  had  often  seen  and 
grieved  over  at  New  York;  just  such  people,  with  the  look 
half  ofsavageness  and  half  of  misery — just  such  poor  worn- 
out  horses.  Ah!  we  need  still  to  pray  the  Lord  of  all  per- 
fection, "  Thy  kingdom  come!"  I  returned  to  my  hotel 
with  a  melancholy  and  heavy  heart. 

One  of  the  peculiarities  which  I  observed  was  the 
number  of  physicians,  especially  dentists,  which  seemed 
to  abound.  Every  third  or  fourth  house  had  its  inscrip- 
tion of  "physician."  What  could  be  the  use  of  all  their 
remedies  here? 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  89 

Among  the  persons  who  have  visited  me  here  were  some 
of  the  so-called  "  New  Church,"  that  is,  Swedenborgians, 
who,  in  consequence  of  my  confession  of  Faith  in  "  Mor- 
gon  Vakter,"  had  the  opinion  that  I  belonged  to  the  "  New 
Church."  I  could  not,  however,  acknowledge  that  I  did 
belong  to  the  New  Church ;  for  I  find  in  the  old,  in  its 
later  development  through  the  great  thinkers  of  Germany 
and  Scandinavia,  a  richer  and  a  diviner  life.  Swedenborg's 
doctrine  of  the  Law  of  Correspondence  has  for  its  foun- 
dation the  belief  and  teaching  of  all  profoundly-thinking 
people,  from  the  Egyptians  to  the  Scandinavians;  but 
Swedenborg's  application  of  his  doctrine  appears  to  me 
not  sufficiently  grand  and  spiritual. 

Every  where  in  North  Ameriea  one  meets  with  Sweden- 
borgians. That  which  seems  to  be  most  generally  accept- 
ed among  them  is  the  doctrines  of  Christ's  divinity,  and 
of  the  resemblance  which  the  world  of  spirits  bears  to  the 
earth,  and  its  nearness  to  it. 

In  their  church-yards,  one  often  finds  upon  a  white  mar- 
ble stone  beautiful  inscriptions,  such  as, 

He  (or  she)  entered  the  spiritual  world  on  such  and 
such  a  day. 

This  is  beautiful  and  true ;  for  I  say  with  Tholuck, 
"Why  say  that  our  form  is  dead?  Dead!  that  word  is 
so  heavy,  so  lifeless,  so  gloomy,  so  unmeaning.  Say  that 
our  friend  has  departed;  that  he  has  left  us  for  a  short 
time.     That  is  better,  and  more  true." 

Crystal  Springs,  Nov.  10. 

Since  I  last  wrote  I  have  removed  to  the  beautiful 
home,  and  into  the  beautiful  family  of  Senator  A.  A 
pretty  young  girl,  the  sister  of  the  master  of  the  house,  has 
given  me  her  room,  with  its  splendid  view  over  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  Missouri  Valley.  But  the  beautiful  weather 
has  now  changed  into  cold  and  autumnal  fog,  so  that  I  can 
see  nothing  of  all  the  glory.  The  air  is  very  thick.  But 
such  days  are  of  rare  occurrence  in  this  sunbright  Amer- 


90  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

ica,  and  the  sun  will  soon  make  a  way  for  itself  again. 
Mr.  A.  has  calculated  the  number  of  sunny  days  in  a  year 
for  three  several  years,  and  he  has  found  them  to  be  about 
three  hundred  and  fifteen;  the  remainder  were  thunder- 
storms and  rainy  days,  and  of  the  latter  the  number  was 
the  smaller. 

Mr.  A.  is  an  interesting  and  well-informed  young  man, 
well  acquainted  with  every  movement  in  the  state,  of 
which  he  is  a  senator,  as  well  as  an  active  participator  in 
its  development.  Thus,  during  the  past  summer,  he  has 
delivered  no  less  than  five  hundred  "  stump-speeches"* 
(I  hope  I  have  not  made  a  mistake  of  a  couple  of  hundred 
in  the  number),  traveling  about  in  Missouri  advocating 
the  laying  down  of  a  rail- way  from  St.  Louis  through  Mis- 
souri to  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  exhorting 
them  to  give  in  their  adherence  to  the  scheme.  And  he 
has  been  extremely  successful.  In  St.  Louis  alone  names 
are  given  in  to  the  amount  of  two  millions  of  dollars  for 
the  carrying  out  of  the  undertaking.  It  is  true  that  they 
will  have  to  tunnel  through  and  to  blast  the  solid  walls  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  but  what  does  that  signify  to  an 
American  ? 

The  city  of  St.  Louis  was  founded  by  rich  traders. 
Dealers  in  furs  and  Catholic  priests  were  the  first  who 
penetrated  the  wildernesses  of  the  West,  and  ventured 
life  to  win,  the  former  wealth,  the  latter  souls. 

Trade  and  religion  are  still,  at  this  moment,  the  pio- 
neers of  civilization  in  the  Western  country. 

One  of  the  most  important  branches  of  speculation  and 

*  Such  is  the  name  given  to  occasional  speeches,  which  are  delivered 
with  the  intention  of  agitating  for  or  advancing  any  object,  by  men  who 
travel  about  for  that  purpose,  and  assemble  an  audience  here  and  there, 
often  in  the  fields  or  the  woods,  when  they  mount  a  tree-stump  or  any 
other  improvised  platform,  and  thence  address  the  people,  the  more  ve- 
hemently the  better.  Short  but  highly-seasoned  speeches,  which  go  at 
once  to  the  point  in  question,  have  the  greatest  success.  Stump-speeches 
and  stump-orators  belong  to  the  characteristic  scenes  of  the  Great  West. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  91 

trade  in  and  around  St.  Louis  is,  at  the  present  time,  the 
sale  of  land.  The  earlier  emigrants  hither  who  purchased 
land,  now  sell  it  by  the  foot  at  several  thousand  dollars  a 
square  foot.  The  exorbitant  prices  at  which  I  have  been 
told  land  sells  here  seem  almost  incredible  to  me.  Cer- 
tain it  is  that  many  people  are  now  making  great  fortunes 
merely  by  the  sale  of  their  plots  of  ground.  One  German, 
formerly  in  low  circumstances,  has  lately  sold  his  plot,  and 
has  now  returned  to  his  native  land  with  wealth  to  the 
amount  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

Mr.  A.,  who  is  one  of  the  "  self-made  men"  of  the  Great 
"West,  and  who  began  his  career  at  Morton  by  publishing 
a  Penny  Magazine,  is  now  a  land  proprietor,  and  sells  also 
plots  or  pieces  of  ground  for  large  sums.  He,  like  Mr. 
Downing  (with  whom  he  has  also,  in  appearance,  a  certain 
resemblance),  unite  at  the  same  time  the  practical  man 
and  the  poetical  temperament,  in  particular  for  natural 
objects. 

There  are  a  great  number  of  Germans  in  St.  Louis. 
They  have  music  and  dancing  parties,  which  are  zealously 
attended.  There  are  also  here  both  French  and  Spaniards. 
At  the  hotels  all  is  in  French  style,  with  French  names 
for  dishes  and  wines.  The  Irish  here,  as  every  where  else 
throughout  the  United  States,  constitute  the  laboring  pop- 
ulation ;  excepting  negro  slaves,  the  greater  portion  of  serv- 
ants are  Irish. 

Spite  of  the  greatly  increasing  trade  of  the  city,  it  is 
still  extremely  difficult,  nay,  almost  impossible  for  a  young 
emigrant  to  obtain  a  situation  in  any  place  of  business. 
If,  on  the  contrary,  however,  he  will  begin  by  doing  coarse 
hand-labor,  as  a  miller's  man,  for  instance,  or  a  worker  in 
a  manufactory,  he  can  easily  find  employment  and  get 
good  wages.  And  if  he  lives  carefully,  he  may  soon  gain 
sufficient  to  undertake  higher  employment.  Better  still 
are  his  prospects  if  he  can  superintend  some  handcraft 
trade ;  he  is  then  in  a  fair  way  to  become  the  artificer  of 
his  own  fortune. 


92  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

November  11th.  Again  summer  and  sunshine,  and  a 
glorious  view  over  the  Mississippi  and  the  expanse  of  coun- 
try !  The  heavens  are  light  blue,  the  earth  is  light  green, 
every  thing  is  bathed  in  light.  I  have  walked  with  my 
young  friend  over  the  hills  around  this  place,  and  Mr.  A. 
has  driven  me  out  to  see  the  whole  neighborhood.  That 
which  always  strikes  me  most  in  the  Grreat  "West  is  the 
vast  extent  of  landscape.  It  produces  upon  me  a  pe- 
culiarly cheerful  and  expansive  feeling.  I  can  not  but 
involuntarily  smile  as  I  seem  to  long  to  stretch  out  my 
arms  and  fly  over  the  earth.  It  feets  to  me  very  stupid 
and  strange  not  being  able  to  do  so.  Mr.  A.  drove  me  to 
part  of  the  neighborhood  where  the  wealthy  citizens  of 
St.  Louis  built  their  villas.  There  are  already  upon  the 
hills  (though  they  can  hardly  be  called  hills,  but  merely 
terraces  or  plateaux)  and  in  the  valleys  whole  streets 
and  groups  of  pretty  country  houses,  many  of  them  really 
splendid,  surrounded  by  trees,  and  flowers,  and  vines,  and 
other  creepers.  How  life  increases  here,  how  rapidly  and 
how  joyously !  But  do  not  tares  spring  up  with  the 
wheat?  I  have  still  hope,  although  I  have  lost  my  faith 
in  the  Millennium  of  the  Great  West. 

The  State  of  Missouri  seems  to  be  one  of  the  richest 
states  of  the  Union  as  regards  natural  beauty  and  natu- 
ral resources,  as  well  as  one  of  the  largest.  They  speak 
of  its  northern  portion  as  of  the  natural  garden  of  the 
"West ;  it  possesses,  westward,  lofty  mountains,  rich  in  met- 
als, interspersed  with  immense  prairies  and  forest ;  south- 
ward, toward  Arkansas,  it  becomes  boggy,  and  abounds  in 
morasses.  To  the  west  of  the  state  lies  the  Indian  Ter- 
ritory, the  people  of  which  have  embraced  Christianity 
and  civilization.  The  Cherokees  are  the  principal,  but 
many  other  tribes  have  united  themselves  to  this  in  small- 
er associations,  as  the  family  of  Choctaws,  Chickasaws, 
Fox,  and  Sac  Indians.  "Whether  this  Indian  territory 
stands  in  the  same  relationship  to  the  government  of  the 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  93 

United  States  as  other  territory  during  its  period  of  gra- 
dation and  preparation,  and  whether  at  some  future  time 
it  will  become  an  independent  Indian  state  in  the  great 
Union,  I  do  not  know  decidedly,  though  I  regard  it  as 
probable. 

Missouri  is  a  slave  state.  But  it  seems  at  this  moment 
to  maintain  the  institution  of  slavery  rather  out  of  brava- 
do than  from  any  belief  in  its  necessity.  It  has  no  prod- 
ucts which  might  not  be  cultivated  by  white  laborers,  as 
its  climate  does  not  belong  to  the  hot  South.  Missouri 
also  sells  its  slaves  assiduously  "  down  South." 

"  Are  you  a  Christian?"  inquired  I  from  a  young  hand- 
some mulatto  woman  who  waited  on  me  here. 

"  No,  Missis,  I  am  not." 

"Have  you  not  been  baptized?  Have  you  not  been 
taught  about  Christ  ?" 

"  Yes,  Missis,  I  have  a  godmother,  a  negro  woman,  who 
was  very  religious,  and  who  instructed  me." 

"  Do  you  not  believe  what  she  told  you  about  Christ?" 

"  Yes,  Missis;  but  I  don't  feel  it  here,  Missis,"  and  she 
laid  her  hand  on  her  breast. 

"Where  were  you  brought  up?" 

"  A  long  way  from  here,  up  the  Missouri,  Missis;  a  long 
way  off!" 

"Were  your  owners  good  to  you?" 

"Yes,  Missis;  they  never  gave  me  a  bad  word." 

"Are  you  married?" 

"Yes,  Missis;  but  my  husband  is  a  long  way  off  with 
his  master." 

"Have  you  any  children?" 

"I  have  had  six,  Missis,  but  have  not  a  single  one  left. 
Three  are  dead,  and  they  have  sold  the  other  three  away 
from  me.  When  they  took  from  me  the  last  little  girl, 
oh,  I  believed  I  never  should  have  got  over  it !  It  almost 
broke  my  heart !" 

And  they  were  so-called  Christians  who  did  that !     It 


94  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

was  not  wonderful  that  she,  the  negro  slave,  had  a  diffi- 
culty in  feeling  Christianity,  that  she  could  not  feel  her- 
self a  Christian.  What  a  life !  Bereaved  of  husband, 
children,  of  all  that  she  had,  without  any  prospect  of  an 
independent  existence ;  possessed  of  nothing  on  the  face  of 
the  earth;  condemned  to  toil,  toil,  toil,  without  hope  of 
reward  or  day  of  rest;  why  should  it  be  strange  if  she 
became  stupid  or  indifferent,  nay,  even  hostile  and  bitter 
in  her  feelings  toward  those  in  whose  power  she  is — they 
who  call  themselves  her  protectors,  and  yet  who  robbed 
her  of  her  all?  Even  of  that  last  little  girl,  that  youn- 
gest, dearest,  only  child ! 

This  pagan  institution  of  slavery  leads  to  transactions 
so  inconsistent,  so  inhuman,  that  sometimes  in  this  coun- 
try, this  Christian,  liberal  America,  it  is  a  difficult  thing 
for  me  to  believe  them  possible,  difficult  to  comprehend 
how  it  can  be  a  reality,  and  not  a  dream !  it  is  so  diffi- 
cult for  me  to  realize  it. 

The  topic  of  interest  at  this  moment  in  St.  Louis  is  the 
return  of  Senator  Benton  from  Washington,  and  his  great 
speech  in  the  State  House,  to  give  an  account  of  his  con- 
duct in  Congress  as  regards  the  great  and  momentous 
question  between  the  Northern  and  the  Southern  States. 
Such  speeches,  explanatory  or  in  justification  of  their  line 
of  conduct,  are  customary  in  all  the  states  on  the  return 
of  the  senator  to  the  state  which  he  represents  in  Con- 
gress. I  read  Colonel  Benton's  speech  last  evening.  The 
bold  representative  of  the  slave  state,  who  alike  openly 
vindicated  its  rights  as  such,  while  he  condemned  slavery, 
is  here  also  like  himself  bold,  candid,  unabashed,  half 
man  and  half  beast  of  prey,  rending  to  pieces  with  beak 
and  claws,  and  full  of  enjoyment  in  so  doing. 

I  remember  the  last  words  of  his  speech,  which  are 
really  manly  and  excellent. 

"  I  value  a  good  popularity,  that  is  to  say,  the  applause 
of  good  men.     That  of  all  others  I  shall  ever  disregard ; 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  95 

and  I  shall  welcome  censure  which  is  hurled  at  me  by  the 
illiberal  and  the  mean." 

Missouri,  as  well  as  Arkansas,  has  a  deal  of  heathenism, 
and  a  deal  of  wild,  uncultivated  land  still.  Civilization 
is  as  yet  at  its  commencement  in  these  states,  and  slav- 
ery retards  its  progress  as  with  strong  fetters.  Fights 
and  bloody  duels  are  of  frequent  occurrence  among  the 
white  population.  Bowie-knives  and  pistols  belong  to  the 
wardrobe  of  a  man,  especially  when  traveling  in  the  state. 
Besides,4ia  .must  be  continually  prepared  to  meet  with 
those  unprincipled  fortune-hunters  who  hasten  from  Eu- 
rope and  the  Eastern  States  (the  prodigal  sons  of  those 
countries)  into  the  West  to  find  there  a  freer  scope  for 
their  savage  passions. 

To-morrow,  or  the  day  after,  I  steer  my  course  to  Cin- 
cinnati, whence  I  shall  write  to  you  again. 


LETTER  XXIX. 

Cincinnati,  Nov.  30th. 

Only  a  kiss  in  spirit  and  a  few  lines  to-day,  because 
I  have  so  many  irons  in  the  fire  that  I  am,  as  it  were,  a 
little  bewildered  in  my  head,  but  that  is  with  sweet  wine ! 

I  have  been  located  since  last  Tuesday  in  the  most 
agreeable  and  the  most  kind  of  homes,  where  those  most 
agreeable  of  human  beings  and  married  people,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  S.,  middle-aged,  that  is  to  say,  about  fifty,  wealthy 
and  without  children,  find  their  happiness  in  gathering 
around  them  friends  and  relations,  and  in  making  them 
happy.  I  am  occupying  one  of  the  many  guest-chambers 
of  their  handsome  and  spacious  house,  and  am  treated 
with  as  much  kindness  as  if  I  were  a  member  of  the 
family.  A  pale,  gentle,  and  grave  young  clergyman  (a 
mourning  widower),  and  two  unmarried  ladies,  relations 
of  my  entertainers,  compose  the  family.     My  host,  a  giant 


96  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

in  stature,  and  his  little  wife,  have  a  good  deal  of  humor, 
so  that  there  is  no  lack  of  savory  salt  for  the  every  day 
meal. 

A  word  now  about  the  journey  hither  from  St.  Louis. 
It  was  made  in  six  days,  by  the  Asia,  safely  and  quietly, 
spite  of  the  uneasy  companionship  of  four-and-twenty  lit- 
tle children  from  ten  years  to  a  few  months  old.  One 
could  not  but  think  one's  self  well  off  if  only  a  third  of  the 
number  were  not  crying  at  once.  There  were  also  some 
passengers  of  the  second  or  third  sort.  laHi^  who  ^mnl^p.d 
thpir  pipp.si  anH  blew  their  noses  in  their  fingers,  and  then 
"came  and  asked  how  one  liked  America.  Ugh  !  There 
are  no  greater  contrasts  than  exist  between  the  cultivated 
and  the  uncultivated  ladies  of  this  country. 

One  mother  with  her  daughter  pleased  me,  nevertheless, 
by  their  appearance  and  their  evident  mutual  affection. 
But  just  as  I  was  about  to  make  some  advances  to  the 
mother,  she  began  with  the  question  whether  the  United 
States  answered  my  expectations.  And  that  operated 
upon  me  like  a  bomb. 

I  spent  my  time,  for  the  most  part,  quietly  in  my  own 
cabin,  finding  companionship  in  my  books,  and  in  the 
spectacle  presented  by  the  banks  of  the  river.  When 
evening  came,  and  with  it  candles,  I  had  the  amusement 
of  the  children's  going  to  bed  in  the  saloon,  for  there 
were  not  berths  for  them  all.  There  was  among  the  pas- 
sengers one  young  mother,  not  above. thirty  years  old, 
with  eight  children,  the  youngest  still  at  the  breast.  She 
had  gone  with  her  husband  and  children  to  settle  in  the 
Far  West,  in  some  one  of  the  Mississippi  States,  but  the 
husband  had  fallen  ill  of  cholera  on  the  way,  and  died 
within  four-and-twenty-hours.  And  now  the  young  moth- 
er is  returning  with  all  her  fatherless  little  ones  to  her  pa- 
ternal home.  She  is  still  very  pretty,  and  her  figure  is 
delicate.  Although  now  and  then  a  tear  may  be  seen 
trickling  down  her  cheek  as  she  sits  of  an  evening  nurs- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  97 

ing  her  little  baby,  yet  she  does  not  seem  overcome  by 
her  loss,  or  greatly  cast  down.  Seven  of  the  children, 
four  boys  and  three  girls,  are  laid  each  evening  in  one 
large  bed,  made  upon  a  long  mattress,  exactly  in  front  of 
my  door,  without  any  other  bedding  than  this  mattress 
and  a  coverlit  thrown  over  them.  I  have  been  much 
amused  by  a  little  lad  of  three  years  old,  a  regular  Cupid 
both  in  head  and  figure,  whose  little  shirt  scarcely  reach- 
ed to  his  middle.  He  could  not  manage  to  be  comforta- 
ble in  the  general  bed,  and  longed  probably  for  the  warm 
mother's  bosom  ;  and  therefore  continually  crept  out  of 
the  former,  and  stole  softly  and  resolutely,  in  his  Adamic 
innocence,  into  the  circle  of  ladies,  who  were  sitting  round 
the  room  talking  or  sewing  by  lamp-light.  Here  he  was 
snapped  up  by  his  mother  in  his  short  shirt  (much  in  the 
same  way  as  our  dairy-maids  may  snap  up  by  their  wings 
a  chicken  which  they  will  put  into  a  pen,  or  into  the  pot), 
and  thus  carried  through  the  room  back  to  his  bed,  where 
he  was  thrust  in,  a  la  chicken,  with  a  couple  of  slaps 
upon  that  portion  of  his  body  which  his  little  shirt  did 
not  defend,  and  then  covered  in  with  the  quilt.  In  vain. 
He  was  soon  seen  again,  white  and  round,  above  the  quilt, 
spite  of  the  hands  of  brothers  and  sisters,  which  let  fall 
upon  him  a  shower  of  blows :  higher  and  higher  he  rose, 
raised  himself  on  hands  and  feet,  and  the  next  minute 
my  curly-headed  Cupid  stood  on  his  two  bare  feet,  and 
walked  in  among  the  circle  of  ladies,  lovely,  determined, 
and  untroubled  by  the  plague  of  clothes,  or  by  bashful- 
ness,  where  he  was  received  by  a  burst  of  laughter,  to  be 
snapped  up  again  by  his  mother,  and  again  thrust  under 
the  quilt  with  an  extra  whipping,  but  too  gentle  to  make 
any  very  deep  impression.  Again  the  same  scene  wTas 
renewed,  to  my  great  amusement,  certainly  six  or  seven 
times  during  an  hour  or  two  each  evening.  A  little  cry- 
ing, it  is  true,  always  accompanied  it ;  but  the  persever- 
ance and  the  calm  good  humor  of  the  little  Cupid  were 
Vol.  II.— E 


98  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

as  remarkable  as  his  beauty,  worthy  of  an  Albano's  pen- 
cil. But  pardon  me !  such  tableaux  are  not  exactly  of 
your  kind.     But  this  you  should  have  seen ! 

Now  for  the  scenery  by  the  way.  A  little  below  St. 
Louis,  we  saw  on  the  Mississippi  the  magnificent  three- 
decked  steamer  the  St.  Louis,  run  aground  in  the  middle 
of  the  river.  We  steamed  past  without  troubling  our- 
selves about  it.  It  was  a  beautiful  and  sunny  day.  The 
landscape  on  the  banks  presented,  for  some  time,  nothing 
remarkable.  Presently,  however,  on  the  Missouri  bank 
rose  up,  close  to  the  river,  perpendicular  cliffs,  the  walls 
of  which  presented  the  most  remarkable  imagery  in  bass- 
relief,  sometimes  also  in  high  relief,  of  altars,  urns,  col- 
umns and  pyramids,  porticoes  and  statues,  which  it  is 
difficult  to  persuade  one's  self  are  chiseled  by  the  hand 
of  Nature  and  not  of  art.  These  remarkable  rocky  walls 
occur  at  various  places,  but  detached,  and  only  along  the 
Missouri  shore. 

Thus,  still  proceeding  southward  down  the  Mississippi, 
we  arrived  at  the  embouchure  of  the  Ohio.  The  scenery 
here  is  expansive  and  flat.  The  clear  blue  Ohio,  "the 
beautiful  river,"  flows  calmly  and  confidingly  into  the  tur- 
bid Mississippi-Missouri,  as  the  serene  soul  of  one  friend 
into  the  disquieted  mind  of  another.  The  banks  of  both 
rivers  are  overgrown  with  brushwood.  The  whole  region 
has  a  mild  and  cheerful  appearance.  A  little  deserted 
and  desolate  settlement  lay,  with  its  ruinous  houses,  upon 
the  point  between  the  two  rivers.  It  was  called  Cairo. 
It  was  intended  for  a  great  trading  town,  but  had  been 
found  so  unhealthy  that,  after  several  unsuccessful  at- 
tempts, it  had  been  finally  abandoned. 

The  Asia  turned  her  course  majestically  eastward,  from 
the  Mississippi  up  the  Ohio,  between  the  two  states  of  Ohio 
and  Kentucky.  The  Ohio  River  is  considerably  smaller 
:han  the  Mississippi;  the  shores  are  higher,  and  more 
wood -covered.      The  river  is  clear  and  beautiful.     One 


^OMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  99 

sees  first  along  the  banks  trees  being  felled  and  log-huts, 
then  come  farms,  and,  lastly,  beautiful  country  houses  upon 
the  hills,  which  increase  in  height  and  in  degree  of  cultiva- 
tion. The  trees  become  tall  and  beautiful  on  each  side  the 
river,  and  in  their  leafy  branches  may  be  observed  green 
knots  and  clusters,  which,  in  the  distance,  look  not  unlike 
birds'  nests.  These  are  mistletoe,  which  here  grows  lux- 
uriantly. The  views  now  expand,  the  trees  become  more 
scattered,  the  hills  retire  backward,  and  upon  the  shore  of 
the  beautiful  Ohio  rises,  with  glittering  church-spires,  and 
surrounded  by  vineyards  and  ornamental  villas,  with  a 
background  of  a  semi-circle  of  two  hills,  a  large  city :  it 
is  Cincinnati,  the  Queen  of  the  West. 

Sixty  years  since  this  city  was  not  in  existence.  Its  first 
founder  was  living  here  only  two  years  since.  Now  it  has 
one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  inhabitants.  That  one 
may  call  growth. 

Before  I  leave  the  Asia,  I  must  cast  a  parting  glance  at 
Mehala,  the  good  old  negro  woman  who  was  the  steward- 
ess of  the  vessel.  She  was  one  of  those  good-tempered, 
excellent  creatures,  which  one  can  not  help  growing  fond 
of,  and  with  a  great  deal  of  that  tact  and  prudence  which 
belong  to  the  negro  race.  She  had  had  fourteen  children, 
but  had  lost  them  all  by  death  and  slave-dealing.  She 
knew  only  for  a  certainty  where  three  of  them  were  to 
be  found,  but  that  was  at  a  great  distance.  She  spoke 
sorrowfully,  but  without  bitterness.  She  now  belonged  to 
a  G-erman  family,  who  had,  at  her  own  desire,  hired  her 
out  for  service  on  the  vessel,  "because,"  she  said,  "they 
did  not  understand  how  to  treat  their  servants."  All  her 
aim  and  endeavor  was  to  save  sufficient  to  purchase  her 
own  freedom;  then  she  could,  she  knew,  go  to  her  married 
daughter  in  Kentucky,  and  there  maintain  herself  by 
washing.  She  had  already  saved  a  little  sum.  On  tak- 
ing leave,  the  excellent  old  woman  embraced  me  so  cor- 
dially that  it  did  my  very  heart  good.     As  a  contrast  to 


100  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

this  woman  was  another,  the  laundress  on  board,  as  cross 
and  ill-tempered  as  the  other  was  amiable. 

The  Asia  had  not  long  reached  Cincinnati  when  a  mild, 
pale  gentleman  came  on  board,  and  conveyed  me  in  a  car- 
riage to  the  new  home  whither  I  had  been  invited.  This 
was  the  clergyman  and  friend,  the  guest  of  the  family, 
and  of  whom  I  have  already  spoken.  When  the  door  of 
the  house  opened  I  was  met  by  a  young  middle-aged 
lady,  whose  charming  countenance  bore  such  a  speaking 
impression  of  goodness  and  benevolence  that  I  felt  myself 
involuntarily  attracted  to  her,  and  glad  to  be  in  her  house ; 
and  the  attraction  and  the  pleasure  have  increased  ever 
since. 

I  have  heard  Cincinnati  variously  called  "  The  Queen 
of  the  West,"  "  The  City  of  Roses,"  and  "  The  City  of 
Hogs."  It  deserves  all  three  names.  It  is  a  handsome, 
nay,  a  magnificent  city,  with  the  most  beautiful  situation 
among  vineyard-hills,  green  heights  adorned  with  beauti- 
ful villas,  and  that  beautiful  river,  Ohio,  with  its  rich  life 
and  its  clear  water.  It  has,  in  the  time  of  roses,  it  is 
said,  really  an  exuberant  splendor  from  these  flowers,  and 
I  see  roses  still  shining  forth  pleasantly  among  the  ever- 
green arbor  vitce,  on  the  terraces,  before  the  beautiful 
houses.  But  the  predominant  character  at  this  moment 
is  as  "  the  City  of  Hogs."  This  is,  namely,  the  season 
when  the  great  droves  of  these  respectable  four-footed  cit- 
izens come  from  the  western  farms  and  villages  to  Cin- 
cinnati, there  to  be  slaughtered  in  a  large  establishment 
solely  appropriated  to  this  purpose,  after  which  they  are 
salted  and  sent  to  the  Eastern  and  Southern  States.  I 
have  many  times  met  in  the  streets  whole  regiments  of 
swine,  before  which  I  made  a  hasty  retreat,  partly  be- 
cause they  entirely  fill  up  the  whole  street,  partly  because 
their  stench  fills  the  air  and  poisons  it.  I  called  them 
respectable  (aktinness  ward),  because  I  in  every  way 
guard  (akta)  myself  against  them.      I  have  a  salutary 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  101 

abhorrence  of  the  whole  of  their  race  in  this  country,  and 
if  I  could  but  impart  the  same  to  many  others,  then  would 
there  be  many  healthier  and  happier  people  than  there 
are.  I  now  see  that  Mohammed  was  a  much  wiser  man 
and  legislator  than  I  imagined.  If  he  could  come  back, 
be  made  President  of  the  United  States,  and  prohibit  the 
eating  of  swine's  flesh,  and  enforce  the  prohibition,  and 
drive  all  swine  out  of  the  country,  then  would  the  Union 
be  saved  from  the  greatest  evil  after  civil  war,  from — 
Dyspepsy  ! 

But  among  so  much  that  is  beautiful  and  so  much  that 
is  good,  I  ought  not  any  longer  to  detain  myself  with  pigs ! 

I  have  had  some  beautiful  rambles  here  and  there  in 
the  neighborhood,  and  have  made  many  interesting  ac- 
quaintance also  out  of  the  house.  Foremost  among  these 
must  I  mention  the  phrenologist,  Dr.  Buchanan,  an  intel- 
lectual, eccentric  little  man,  full  of  life  and  human  love, 
who  greatly  interests  me  by  his  personal  character  and  by 
the  large  views  which  he  takes  in  his  Neurology  and  Anal- 
ysis of  the  human  brain,  "  of  the  immense  possibilities  of 
man,"  allowing  at  the  same  time  wide  scope  to  the  free- 
dom of  the  human  will.  Buchanan  is,  in  a  high  degree, 
a  spiritualist,  and  he  regards  spiritual  powers  too  as  the 
most  potent  agents  of  all  formation — regards  the  immate- 
rial life  as  the  determiner  of  the  material.  Thus  he  con- 
siders the  will  in  man  as  determining  the  inner  being,  as 
influencing  the  development  of  the  ductile  brain,  for  good 
or  for  evil,  and  the  ductile  brain  operates  upon,  elevates 
or  depresses  the  skull. 

Further,  I  am  cheered  in  a  high  degree  by  the  views 
current  here  on  the  subject  of  slavery  and  its  possible 
eradication,  and  in  the  future  of  the  negroes,  as  well  as 
of  Africa,  through  its  colonization  by  Christian  negroes 
from  America,  settled  on  Jhe  coast  of  Africa,  and  by  the 
products  of  free  labor  in  a  wholly  tropical  climate  being 
superior  to  that  of  slave  M>or  in  a  half-tropical  climate. 


102  HUMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

I  read  in  the  African  Repository,  a  periodical  which 
is  published  here  by  Mr.  D.  Christy,  agent  of  the  Coloni- 
zation Society  in  Ohio,  some  interesting  papers  on  the 
subject  of  Liberia  and  Sierra  Leone,  and  the  increase  of 
the  colonies  on  the  coast  of  Africa.  The  State  of  Ohio 
has  lately  taken  a  decided  step  by  the  purchase  of  a  large 
district  of  country  on  the  African  coast  called  Grallinas, 
several  hundred  miles  in  extent,  and  where  the  slave-trade 
was  hitherto  greatly  carried  on.  Some  wealthy  men  in 
Cincinnati  have  appropriated  several  thousands  of  dollars 
to  this  purpose  ;  and,  in  consequence  of  this  circumstance, 
and  the  new  country  being  colonized  by  free  negroes  from 
Ohio,  it  is  called  Ohio  in  Africa.  An  essential  barrier  has 
thus  been  placed  against  the  carrying  on  of  the  slave- 
trade  on  the  African  coast. 

A  State  Convention  is  at  the  present  moment  being 
held  here,  which  consists  of  one  hundred  and  eight  citi- 
zens, to  change,  or,  to  speak  more  correctly,  to  develop 
the  Constitution  of  the  State,  which  is  now  probably  fifty 
years  old.  I  was  present  yesterday  at  one  of  the  sittings, 
and  shook  hands  with  a  considerable  number  of  the  wise 
fathers,  most  of  whom  are  handsome,  middle-aged  men, 
with  open  countenances,  and  broad,  clever  foreheads.  A 
great  portion  of  the  members  are  lawyers ;  there  are,  how- 
ever, several  farmers,  merchants,  and  men  of  different 
trades.  Two  only  of  the  members  were  unmarried  men. 
The  object  which  the  Convention  has  in  view  is  to  extend 
the  power  of  the  people,  as,  for  example,  in  the  appoint- 
ment of  judges  and  other  official  persons. 

Other  interesting  objects  there  are,  besides,  which  are 
refreshing  to  my  inmost  being.  There  is  really  in  Ohio 
a  movement  of  central  life  as  well  in  thought  as  in  ac- 
tion, which  I  have  not  met  with  in  any  other  state  of 
America  ;  and,  however  it  may  be,  I  seem  to  be  living 
here  in  the  very  centre  of  the  New  World. 

In  short,  my  little  heart,  I  live.     I  embrace  in  my  spirit 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  103 

the  present  and  the  future  in  various  developments,  in  va- 
rious parts  of  the  earth,  near  and  afar;  and  I  feel  that 
much  is  developing  itself  within  my  own  soul  which  for- 
merly lay  bound,  or  merely  lived  with  a  half  existence; 
and  I  thank  Grod  ! 

December.  I  have  now  resided  nearly  three  weeks  in 
this  good  home,  with  these  kind  and  good  S.'s,  and  seen 
a  good  deal  of  people  and  of  the  town,  as  well  as  of  the 
beautiful  region  around  this  place.  The  country  is  of  the 
most  beautiful  and  of  the  most  attractive  character  that 
any  one  can  imagine ;  lovely  villas  are  scattered  over  the 
fertile  hills,  and  commanding  the  most  glorious  views  over 
the  river  and  the  whole  country.  The  people — yes,  they 
are  even  here  of  all  sorts,  the  good  and  the  bad,  the  agree- 
able and  the  disagreeable ;  some  most  amiable,  with  whom 
one  would  wish  to  remain  long,  to  remain  always,  and 
others  whom  one  would  wish — where  the  pepper  grows. 
Yet  the  greater  number  whom  I  have  seen  belong  to  the 
good  and  charming,  and  I  have  enjoyed  much  happiness 
with  them. 

I  saw  three  young  brides  at  a  bridal  party  the  other 
day,  all  of  them  very  handsome,  one  remarkably  so,  for  a 
beautiful  soul  beamed  in  her  countenance.  I  said  to  her 
with  my  whole  heart,  "Grod  bless  you!"  I  saw  on  this 
occasion  many  beautiful  toilets  and  many  beautiful  faces. 
The  American  ladies  dress  well  and  with  good  taste.  And 
here,  indeed,  one  seems  to  meet  nothing  but  handsome 
faces,  scarcely  a  countenance  which  may  be  called  ugly. 
Yet,  nevertheless,  I  think  it  would  be  a  refreshment  to 
see  such  a  one,  if  in.it  I  found  that  beauty  which  seems 
to  me  generally,  not  always,  to  be  deficient  in  these  truly 
lovely  human  roses,  and  which  I  may  compare  to  the 
dewy  rose-bud  in  its  morning  hour.  There  is  a  deficien- 
cy of  shadow,  of  repose,  of  the  mystery  of  being,  of  that 
nameless,  innermost  depth,  which  attracts  the  mind  with 
a  silent  power  in  the  consciousness  of  hidden  and  noble 


104  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 


treasure.  There  is  a  deficiency  of  that  quiet  grace  of  be- 
ing, which  in  itself  alone  is  beauty.  Am  I  unjust?  Is 
it  the  glitter  of  the  drawing-room  and  the  chandelier  which 
bewilders  me  ? 

One  observation  I  considered  as  well  founded.  Artifice 
and  vanity  exercise  no  less  power  over  our  sex  in  this 
country  than  they  do  in  the  great  cities  of  Europe,  and 
far  more  than  in  our  good  Sweden.  Some  proofs  of  this 
fact  have  almost  confounded  me.  The  luxurious  habits 
and  passion  for  pleasure  of  young  married  ladies  have 
not  unfrequently  driven  their  husbands  to  despair  and  to 
drunkenness.  I  once  heard  a  young  and  handsome  lady 
say,  "  I  think  that  ladies,  after  they  are  married,  are  too 
little  among  gentlemen.  When  I  go  to  a  ball  I  always 
make  it  a  duty  to  forget  my  children." 

A  scandalous  lawsuit  is  now  pending  here  between  a 
young  couple  who  have  been  married  a  few  years.  It 
was  a  most  magnificent  wedding  ;  the  establishment,  fur- 
niture, every  thing,  was  as  expensive  and  splendid  as  pos- 
sible ;  every  thing  was  silk,  and  velvet,  and  jewels.  Soon, 
however,  discord  arose  between  the  married  pair,  in  con- 
sequence, it  is  said,  of  the  young  wife's  obstinacy  in  roug- 
ing against  the  wish  of  her  husband.  Her  vain  and  fool- 
ish mother  appears  to  have  taken  the  side  of  the  daughter 
against  the  husband,  and  now  the  two  are  parted,  and  a 
correspondence  is  published  which  redounds  to  the  honor 
of  none  of  the  family. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  besetting  sins  of  the  men  in  the 
Great  West  are  gambling  and  drunkenness ;  it  may  be 
summed  up  in  that  state  of  feeling  which  is  called  reck- 
lessness. 

"  For  what  do  people  marry  here  in  the  West ;  for  love 
or  for  money  ?"  inquired  I  of  an  elderly,  clever,  and  intel- 
lectual gentleman,  one  of  my  friends. 

"  For  money,"  replied  he,  shortly. 

His  wife  objected  to  that  severe  judgment;  but  he 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  105 

would  not  retract  it,  and  she  was  obliged  to  concede  that 
money  had  a  great  influence,  after  all,  in  the  decision  of 
a  match. 

That  marriages,  in  spite  of  this,  should  often  turn  out 
happy,  must  be  attributed  to  our  Lord's  mercy,  and  to 
the  firm  moral  principles  which  are  instilled  into  this 
generation  by  nature  and  education,  and  supported  by 
the  influence  of  general  moral  opinions.  Nor  is  it  other 
than  natural  that  under  such  circumstances  many  mar- 
riages are  also  unhappy,  and  that  the  number  of  divorces 
is  large  in  a  portion  of  the  American  States  where  the 
law  does  not  lay  any  very  momentous  impediment  in  the 
way.  The  frequency  of  divorce1  here  may  also  be  caused 
by  the  circumstance  of  the  Americans  having  less  patience 
than  other  people  with  imperfection,  and  preferring  to  cut 
the  Gordian  knot  asunder,  than  labor  through  a  course 
of  years  in  unloosening  it.     "  Life  is  short !"  say  they. 

Yet  in  the  mean  time  have  I  nowhere  seen  more  per- 
fectly happy  marriages  than  in  America ;  but  these  were 
not  entered  into  for  the  sake  of  money. 

"  What  is  there  better  here  in  the  Western  States  than 
in  those  of  the  East  that  makes  you  prefer  living  here  ?" 
inquired  I  of  my  excellent  hostess. 

"  More  freedom  and  less  prejudice,"  replied  she ;  "  more 
regard  to  the  man  than  to  his  dress  and  his  external  cir- 
cum  stances  ;  a  freer  scope  for  thought  and  enterprise,  and 
more  leisure  for  social  life." 

And  yet  I  seem  here  to  have  remarked  that  shortness 
of  temper,  impatience,  misunderstandings,  and  envyings, 
all  the  petty  feuds  of  social  life,  no  less  take  up  their 
quarters  here  than  in  other  great  cities  of  the  New  World. 
The  good  seed  and  the  tares  spring  up  together  every 
where  in  the  fields  of  the  earth,  whether  in  the  West  or 
whether  in  the  East. 

The  climate  of  Cincinnati  is  not  good ;  the  air  is  keen, 
and  the  rapid  alternations  in  the  weather  may  have  some 
E  2 


10(3  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

effect  in  producing  that  irritability  of  temperament  which 
I  seemed  to  observe. 

It  has  been  a  pleasure  to  me  while  here  to  attend  va- 
rious lectures,  and  foremost  among  them  I  must  mention 
Dr.  Buchanan's  animated  and  really  intellectual  extem- 
pore address  in  the  Medical  College  on  the  activity  of  the 
brain  and  its  relationship  to  human  free-will.  Another 
also,  on  Lord  Bacon  of  Yerulam,  by  the  young  Unitarian 
minister,  Mr.  Livermore,  which  was  interesting  from  its 
impartiality  and  its  profound  pshychological  glance.  A 
third  was  by  a  planter  and  quondam  slaveholder,  Mr.  Cas- 
sius  M.  Clay,  of  Kentucky,  who  emancipated  the  slaves 
upon  his  plantation,  and  now,  having  come  forward  as  the 
opponent  of  slavery,  a  hostile  feeling  has  been  excited 
against  him  in  the  slave  states.  Hence  it  happened  that 
during  a  public  lecture  given  by  him  on  the  slavery  ques- 
tion a  year  ago  at  a  city  of  Kentucky  (Louisville,  I  be- 
lieve), he  was  attacked  by  a  ferocious  man  and  his  ad- 
herents, who  beat  and  cut  him  dreadfully,  while  he,  un- 
prepared for  such  an  onslaught,  had  no  weapon  wherewith 
to  defend  himself.  Already  severely  wounded  by  many 
bowie-knives,  he  would  probably  have  perished  had  not 
his  little  son  of  thirteen  bravely  thrust  his  way  through 
the  crowd  to  his  father,  and  given  him  a  bowie-knife  for 
his  defense.  Clay  could  now  stand  on  the  defensive,  and 
he  did  that  with  so  much  effect  that  he  gave  his  oppo- 
nent his  death- wound.  He  himself  lay  sick  of  the  wounds 
which  he  had  received  for  nearly  twelve  months,  and 
this  was  now  the  first  time  after  his  recovery  that  he 
had  given  a  public  lecture,  but  not  now  in  Kentucky,  in 
Ohio. 

The  large  hall  in  which  he  was  to  speak  was  full  to 
overflowing.  I  had  already  become  acquainted  with  him 
at  the  bridal  party,  and  he  had  since  then  paid  me  a  visit, 
and  I  was  pleased  with  his  manly,  determined  demeanor, 
and  the  deep  gleam  in  his  dark  blue  eye,  as  well  as  by 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  107 

the  view  he  took  of  the  necessarily  rude  and  low  condition 
of  a  state  in  which  slavery  is  a  "  domestic  institution,"  of 
its  corrupting  influence  on  the  morals  and  tone  of  mind, 
and,  as  a  consequence  thereof,  the  dominion  of  the  pistol 
and  the  bowie-knife.  His  belief  was  that  negro  slaves 
might  and  ought  to  be  transformed  into  free  laborers.  I 
inquired  from  him  how  his  own  slaves  conducted  them- 
selves as  freemen. 

"Excellently!"  replied  he;  "but  there  were  not  many 
of  them,  and  they  had,  by  degrees,  been  prepared  for  free- 
dom." 

He  inveighed  boldly  and  earnestly  in  his  speech  this 
evening  against  an  institution  which  loosened  all  family 
bonds  and  degraded  women,  and  he  uttered  a  violent  ti- 
rade against  the  new  Fugitive  Slave  Bill,  as  well  as  against 
Daniel  Webster,  who  had  supported  it.  He  recalled  to 
his  recollection  a  painting,  which  he  had  seen  as  a  child, 
in  which  the  fires  of  Purgatory  were  represented.  There 
might  be  seen  various  poor  sinners  who  were  endeavoring 
to  come  forth  from  the  devouring  flames,  but  a  superin- 
tendent devil  stood  by  with  horns  and  claws,  and  a  huge 
hay- fork  in  his  hand,  ever  ready  to  seize  each  poor  soul 
about  to  escape  from  the  fire,  to  take  him  on  the  prongs 
of  his  fork  and  hurl  him  back  again.  This  superintend- 
ent devil  he  recognized  as  Daniel  Webster. 

That  was  the  brilliant  point  in  the  speech,  which 
throughout  was  conventional,  and  which  passed  over  from 
the  Slave  Bill  and  Webster  to  the  Bible  and  Christianity. 
The  clever  combatant  was  not  successful  on  this  ground, 
and  proved  himself  to  be  a  poor  theologian,  inasmuch  as 
he  mistook  Christianity  for  that  contracted  Church  which 
lays  sole  claim  to  the  appellation,  and  measured  the  words 
of  the  Bible  according  to  their  abuse  or  their  irrational 
misapplication.  But  this  abuse  of  Scripture  is  so  com- 
mon among  the  defenders  of  slavery,  even  among  the 
clergy,  that  I  am  not  surprised  at  many  persons  being 


108  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

provoked  by  it,  and  being  led  to  suspect  the  wells  of 
truth,  from  which  men  will  draw  up  lies. 

The  numerous  assembly,  however,  had  a  keen  sense  ; 
they  perceived  the  error  and  preserved  silence.  The 
speaker,  who  had  been  received  with  demonstrations  of 
great  enthusiasm,  found  his  audience  much  cooled  at  the 
close. 

Ohio  is,  as  you  know,  a  free  state,  and  exactly  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the-  beautiful  river  which  bears  its  name 
lies  the  slave  state  of  Kentucky,  and  slaves  flying  across 
the  river  to  reach  a  free  shore  were  heard  of  formerly  as 
An  every-day  occurrence.  Now  such  a  flight  avails  noth- 
ing to  the  poor  slaves.  They  are  pursued  and  recaptured 
as  well  in  a  free  as  in  a  slave  state. 

I  have  heard  histories  of  the  flight  of  slaves  which  are 
full  of  the  most  intense  interest,  and  I  can  not  conceive 
why  these  incidents  do  not  become  the  subjects  of  roman- 
ces and  novels  in  the  literature  of  this  country.  I  know 
no  subject  which  could  furnish  opportunities  for  more 
heart-rending  or  more  picturesque  descriptions  and  scenes. 
The  slaves,  for  example,  who  fly  "the  way  of  the  North 
Star,"  as  it  is  called,  who  know  no  other  road  to  liberty 
than  the  road  toward  the  North,  who  wander  on  by  night 
when  it  shines,  and  conceal  themselves  by  day  in  the  deep 
forests,  where  sometimes  gentle  Friends  (Quakers)  carry 
out  food  to  them,  without  which  they  would  probably  per- 
ish :  this  journey,  with  its  dangers  and  its  anticipations, 
its  natural  scenery  and  its  nocturnal  guiding  star — what 
subjects  are  here  for  the  pen  of  genius!  Add  to  this  the 
converse,  the  agony  or  the  joy  of  warm,  loving,  suffering 
human  hearts — in  short,  here  are  subjects  of  a  higher  ro- 
mantic interest  than  are  found  in  Chateaubriand's  "At- 
ala."  I  can  not  understand  why,  in  particular,  noble- 
minded  American  women,  American  mothers  who  have 
hearts  and  genius,  do  not  take  up  the  subject,  and  treat  it 
with  a  power  which  should  pierce  through  bone  and  mar- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  109 

row,  should  reduce  all  the  prudential  maxims  of  states- 
men to  dust  and  ashes,  and  produce  a  revolution  even  in 
the  old  widely-praised  Constitution  itself.  It  is  the  priv- 
ilege of  the  woman  and  the  mother  which  suffers  most 
severely  through  slavery.  And  if  the  heart  of  the  woman, 
and  the  woman  would  heave  warmly  and  strongly  with 
maternal  life's  blood,  I  am  convinced  that  the  earth,  the 
spiritual  earth  of  the  United  States,  must  quake  thereby 
and  overthrow  slavery! 

Often  when  I  have  heard  the  adventures  of  fugitive 
slaves,  their  successful  escape  or  their  destruction,  and 
have  thought  of  the  natural  scenery  of  America,  and  of 
those  scenes  which  naturally  suggest  themselves  on  "the 
way  of  the  North  Star,"  I  have  had  a  wish  and  a  longing 
desire  to  write  the  history  of  a  fugitive  pair,  so  as  it  seems 
to  me  it  ought  to  be  written,  and  I  have  been  inclined  to 
collect  materials  for  that  purpose.  And  if  I  lived  by  this 
river  and  amid  these  scenes,  I  know  for  what  object  I 
should  then  live.  But  as  it  is,  I  am  deficient  in  local 
knowledge.  I  am  not  sufficiently  acquainted  with  the 
particular  detail  of  circumstances,  which  would  be  indis- 
pensable for  such  a  delineation,  which  ought  to  be  true, 
and  to  take  a  strong  hold  upon  the  reader.  That  office 
belongs  to  others  besides  myself.  I  will  hope  for  and  ex- 
pect— the  American  mother. 

Ohio  is  called  "the  Buckeye  State,"  from  the  brown 
fruit  of  a  kind  of  chestnut  called  the  buckeye,  which  is 
very  general  throughout  the  state.  The  state  is  said  to 
possess  a  fertile  soil,  good  for  grain  and  the  rearing  of 
cattle,  and  pastorally  beautiful  scenery,  although  not  of  a 
magnificent  character.  Both  this  state  and  Kentucky  are 
renowned  for  their  fine  trees.  I  regret  that  the  season  of 
the  year  does  not  permit  seeing  more  of  their  beauty  and 
of  the  country;  of  that  rich  country  which  could  main- 
tain eight  or  ten  millions  of  inhabitants  beyond  its  present 
number. 

• 


110  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

All  within  doors  is  good,  peaceful,  and  charming.  A 
new  guest,  a  friend  of  the  family,  has  enlivened  the  social 
circle  for  the  last  few  days.  He  is  a  Mr.  D.,  from  New 
England,  but  not  at  all  a  Yankee  in  disposition;  on  the 
contrary,  he  seems  quite  refined,  very  dapper,  and  highly 
perfumed,  as  if  he  had  just  stepped  out  of  Madame  De 
Sevigne's  drawing-room  circle  into  ours.  He  interests 
himself  principally  for  social  life  and  literature,  for  friends 
and  acquaintance,  for  agreeable  objects  and  the  pleasures 
of  the  hour  ;  is  an  amateur  of  handsome  ladies,  bonmots, 
and  bonne  chere ;  is  acquainted  with  the  minutest  nice- 
ties of  Shakspeare ;  and  is  able  to  see  great  things  in  a 
little  billet  of  four  lines  written  by  a  lady's  hand  ;  for  the 
rest,  he  is  an  honorable  man,  a  devoted  friend,  a  good 
companion,  and  one  who  talks  well  on  every-day  subjects. 

He  has  given  a  new  turn  to  our  observations  of  the 
Great  West,  regarding  it  from  a  mythological  point  of 
view,  and  as  a  new  Jothunhun  with  Thor  and  Loke,  the 
Krimthursar  and  Giants.  And  the  comparisons  which  he 
makes  between  the  Scandinavian  Jothunhun,  its  heroes 
and  their  adventures,  which  he  reads  from  a  translation 
of  Sturleson's  Edda,  by  the  poet  Longfellow,  and  that  of 
the  New  World's  now  existing  Jothunhun  and  its  giants, 
furnish  occasion  for  many  amusing  narratives  and  rela- 
tions. Thus  the  extreme  West  becomes  the  new  Ut- 
gaerd,  full  of  monsters  and  witches ;  the  mammoth  grot- 
to is  the  glove  of  Skyenin ;  the  divine  hog,  Schrimmer, 
lives  here  a  thousand-fold,  and  the  achievements  of  Thor 
and  Starkotter  are  renewed  in  those  of  the  giants  of  the 
giant  river  and  the  states  of  the  Mississippi.  Of  these 
we  have  a  great  number  of  anecdotes,  which  season  our 
meals,  and  our  host,  Mr.  S.  (whom  Mr.  D.  and  I  call  "the 
good  Jothun,"  and  who  seems  to  like  the  title  very  well), 
contributes  many  a  racy  and  amusing  addition  to  this 
mythology  of  the  West.     See  here  two  specimens. 

A  man,  one  of  the  men  of  the  West,  was  standing  on 


HUMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  HI 

the  shore  of  the  Mississippi,  when  a  steamer  blew  up  in 

the  air,  on  which  he  exclaimed,  "  By  God !  the  Americans 

are  a  great  people !"     A  common   exclamation   in  the 

Great  West  on  every  occasion. 

Another  man,  a  Viking  on  the  Mississippi,  struck  his 

boat  upon  a  snag  in  the  river,  and  as  he  himself  hung 

upon  this,  he  exclaimed,  while  his  boat  was   dashed  to 

pieces, 

"  Hail,  Columbia,  happy  land  ! 
If  I'm  not  lost,  I'll  be  d d !" 

Another  man,  a  passenger  in  one  of  the  Mississippi 
steamers,  lately  got  into  a  quarrel  with  another  passen- 
ger. They  went  upon  the  upper  deck  and  exchanged  a 
few  shots,  and  then  came  down  again  as  if  they  had  only 
been  playing  at  ball.  One  of  these  gentlemen  looked 
rather  pale  and  went  into  his  cabin,  but  came  out  morn- 
ing, noon,  and  evening  regularly  to  his  meals  for  two 
days ;  on  the  third,  however,  he  was  found  dead  in  his 
bed,  with  five  bullets  in  his  body. 

One  must  confess  that  this  was  taking  the  matter 
coolly. 

A  certain  humorous  exaggeration  seems  to  be  charac- 
teristic of  the  inhabitants  of  the  West,  as  well  in  their 
combatant  disposition  as  in  expression.  Kentucky  is  par- 
ticularly accused  of  this,  and  gives  occasion  for  many 
amusing  stories.  Thus  it  is  told  of  a  Kentucky  man  that 
he  boasted  of  the  fertility  of  the  soil  of  Kentucky  in  the 
following  words :  "  If  we  manure  well,  and  sow  corn 
(maize),  we  shall  get  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  grains 
for  each  one ;  if  we  sow  without  manure,  we  get  one 
hundred ;  and  if  we  neither  manure  nor  sow,  we  get 
about  fifty." 

The  Jothun  histories  belong  now  to  our  daily  bread, 
and  new  ones  come  up  every  day.  With  Mr.  S.,  the  pale 
minister,  I  do  not,  however,  talk  about  such  things,  but, 
on  the  contrary,  of  theology  and  Swedenborgology.     We 


112  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

dispute  a  little ;  but  I  find  so  much  to  learn  from  the 
crystally-pure  truth  and  beauty  of  his  soul,  that  I  have 
more  pleasure  in  listening  to  its  quiet  expression  than  in 
maintaining  my  own  arguments.  He  is  one  of  the  quiet 
in  the  land,  whose  lives  are  their  best  teaching.  He  still 
sorrows  deeply  for  his  departed  wife. 

"  People  do  not  know  how  sufficiently  to  value  the 
blessings  of  matrimony,"  said  he  to  me  on  one  occasion. 
"  We  do  not  live  in  marriage  up  to  the  height  of  that  hap- 
piness and  that  life  which  we,  nevertheless,  hold  in  our 
own  hand." 

Miss  Harriet,  the  eldest  sister  of  Mrs.  S.,  an  excellent, 
stout,  grave,  elderly  lady,  near  upon  sixty,  does  not  make 
her  appearance  till  dinner,  and  but  very  seldom  in  the 
drawing-room.  On  the  contrary,  I  often  found  that  she 
had  some  employment  in  my  room,  and  in  my  drawers, 
and  about  my  wash-stand,  and  that  it  was  done  stealth- 
ily, which  appeared  to  me  a  little  extraordinary,  until  I 
put  in  connection  with  it  another  extraordinary  thing,  and 
thus,  by  means  of  the  latter,  was  able  to  explain  the  for- 
mer. I  discovered,  namely,  in  my  drawers,  that  a  collar 
or  a  pair  of  muslin  sleeves,  which  I  had  laid  aside  because 
they  had  become  somewhat  too  gray  for  wear,  had  reas- 
sumed,  by  some  inexplicable  means,  their  pure  white  col- 
or, and  lay  there  fresh  washed  and  ironed  as  if  of  them- 
selves. In  the  same  way  I  found  that  the  old  collar  had 
been  mended,  and  still  more,  a  new  collar  exhibited  itself 
trimmed  with  real  lace,  and  a  new  pair  of  muslin  sleeves 
which  had  never  been  there  before,  but  which  were  ex- 
actly of  the  kind  that  I  wore — and  for  all  that,  Miss  Har- 
riet, when  I  met  her,  looked  as  grave  as  ever,  and  just  as 
if  she  would  say  that  she  never  concerned  herself  with 
other  people's  affairs,  and  wished  that  neither  would  oth- 
ers trouble  themselves  about  hers.  It  was  some  time  be- 
fore I,  in  real  earnest,  began  to  suspect  that  Miss  Harriet 
had  taken  upon  herself  the  charge  of  the  getting  up  and 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  113 

repairing  of  my  fine  linen,  and  supplying  such  new  as  I 
seemed  to  stand  in  need  of.  And  when  at  length  I  charged 
her  with  it,  she  tried  to  look  a  little  cross,  hut  that  good, 
roguish  smile  betrayed  her;  hut  the  good,  kind,  sisterly 
soul  has  since  then  not  been  able  to  keep  me  at  a  dis- 
tance by  her  somewhat  harsh  voice  and  grave  manner. 
But  that  this  voice  never  spoke  other  than  in  truth,  and 
that  under  that  apparently  cold  demeanor  there  dwelt  a 
good,  honest  heart,  a  clear  and  sound  understanding,  a 
somewhat  jocose  and  excellent  temper  and  powers  of  con- 
versation— all  this  I  discovered  by  degrees,  and  this  also 
had  I  been  assured  of  by  Mr.  H. 

And  who  is  Mr.  H.  ?  He  is  one  of  the  gentleman  friends 
of  the  house,  a  man  whom  I  would  very  gladly  have  for 
a  friend.  More  of  him  you  will  probably  know  hereafter, 
as  we  are  to  be  fellow-travelers  to  New  Orleans. 

Miss  V.,  the  second  and  younger  friend  and  inmate  of 
the  family,  is  so  silent  and  quiet,  and  it  is  merely  from 
the  lofty,  intellectual  forehead,  and  the  repose  of  the  whole 
noble  figure,  that  one  is  led  to  suppose  that  she  is  the  pos- 
sessor of  more  than  ordinary  talent.  True,  however,  it  is, 
that  now  and  then  an  observation  is  made,  or  some  play 
of  words  is  quietly  and  carelessly  uttered,  which  makes 
one  turn  one's  head,  at  once  amused  and  surprised,  to- 
ward the  unpretending  Miss  V.,  because  one  seldom  hears 
any  where  any  thing  so  good  as  what  she  has  said. 

Thus,  to-day  at  dinner,  when  they  were  talking  of  the 
excitement  which  Jenny  Lind  had  produced  in  the  United 
States,  somebody  said  that  they  had  seen  an  announce- 
ment offering  "  Jenny  Lind  herrings"  for  sale,  and  Miss 
Y.  immediately  remarked  that  it  was  a  selfish  idea.  And 
when  we  began  to  laugh,  and  some  one  said,  "  Oh,  Miss 
V.,  do  you  make  such  puns?"  our  good  Jothun  returned, 
a  la  Kentuckian,  "  Yes,  certainly — yes,  certainly,  she  does 
nothing  else.  She  it  is  who  furnishes  all  our  newspapers 
with  puns." 


114  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

But  she  does  other  things  also  for  the  pleasure  of  the 
family,  and  among  these  is  the  manipulation  of  delicate 
sponge-cake,  the  best  cake  which  is  made  in  this  country, 
and  of  which  I  have  here  an  abundance,  as  a  reminder 
of  the  giant  character  of  the  Great  West. 

You  thus  may  see  a  little  of  our  e very-day  life ;  but 
the  pearl  of  all  to  me  in  social  life  and  conversation  is  my 
charming  little,  sensible,  and  kind  hostess. 

I  have  also  here  the  pleasure  of  frequently  hearing 
pieces  by  Beethoven  played  by  a  young  girl,  Miss  K.  G., 
one  of  the  most  intimate  friends  of  the  family ;  and  play- 
ed with  so  much  fidelity,  with  such  an  inward  compre- 
hension, that  not  a  tone  nor  intention  of  the  great  master 
is  lost.  This  is  a  source  to  me  of  the  greatest  enjoyment. 
This  young  lady  has  in  her  appearance  a  great  deal  of 
that  inward7  beaming  beauty,  which  I  value  beyond  the 
mere  exterior  beauty,  which  is  more  common  in  the  youth- 
ful countenances  of  this  country.  At  my  request  she  has 
carefully  studied  Beethoven's  second  adagio  in  the  fourth 
symphony,  which  so  much  charmed  me  at  Boston.  Among 
the  people  who  have  given  me  pleasure  here,  I  must  men- 
tion a  young  poetess,  Mrs.  L.,  handsome,  highly  gifted, 
and  amiable.  It  is  a  real  musical  delight  to  hear  her  read 
poetry. 

Many  Swedes  are  resident  at  this  place,  and  among 
them  several  who,  after  having  been  unsuccessful  in  the 
Old  World,  have  succeeded  in  the  New,  and  are  now  in 
comfortable  circumstances.  One  of  these  has  made  his 
fortune  by  exhibiting  "Hell,"  a  youthful  production  of 
the  American  sculptor,  Hiram  Powers,  who  was  born  in 
Cincinnati,  worked  here  at  a  watchmaker's,  and  here 
commenced  various  works  of  art.  Among  these  was  a 
mechanical,  moving  representation  of  Hell.  The  Swede 
purchased  it,  set  it  up  in  a  kind  of  museum,  invited  people 
to  come  and  see  how  things  went  on  in  Hell,  passed  some 
violent  electric  shocks  among  them,  accompanied  by  thun- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  115 

der  and  lightning,  and  is  now  a  rich  man,  with  wife, 
children,  and  country  house,  all  acquired  by  his  represent- 
ation of  Hell. 

There  are  some  American  homes  in  Cincinnati  into 
which  I  will  introduce  you.  First  to  the  home  where  a 
young  widowed  mother  lives  for  the  education  and  devel- 
opment of  her  five  beautiful  little  boys  into  good  Christians 
and  fellow-citizens ;  then  to  the  home  where  married 
couples  without  children  make  life  rich  to  one  another, 
through  kindness  and  intelligence,  dispelling  ennui  from 
their  fireside,  and  causing  sickness  to  become  a  means  of 
deeper  union  between  heart  and  heart,  between  heaven 
and  earth.  This  is,  in  particular,  a  home  where  I  know 
you  would  feel  as  I  did ;  for  it  is  beautiful  to  see  people 
live  well,  but  still  more  beautiful  and  still  more  rare  to 
see  them  die  so.  And  in  this  home  there  is  one  dying ; 
quite  a  young  girl,  lovely  as  a  rose-bud,  and  with  such  a 
fresh  rose-tint  on  her  cheek  that  no  stranger  could  believe 
that  death  was  at  her  heart.  But  she  must  die,  and  her 
mother  knows  it  too.  She  suffers  from  a  fatal  disease  of 
the  heart ;  and  the  heart,  which  is  becoming  too  large  for 
the  narrow  chest,  will  cease  to  beat  in  a  few  weeks.  Both 
mother  and  daughter  know  this,  and  prepare  themselves, 
during  the  days  and  nights  of  suffering  which  they  spend 
together,  for  their  approaching  separation,  and  this  with 
heavenly  light  and  calm.  They  speak  of  it  to  each  other 
as  of  something  beautiful  for  the  younger  one,  and  she 
prepares  herself  for  the  companionship  of  angels  by  be- 
coming beneath  the  cross  of  suffering  more  patient,  more 
affectionate  to  all — -more  like  an  angel  still.  There  is 
nothing  gloomy  in  this  sick-room;  friends  come  thither 
with  presents  and  with  love,  still  more  to  gladden  the 
young  girl  while  she  lingers  on  the  brink  of  the  grave, 
and  to  obtain  from  her  a  word  or  a  glance  from  that 
heaven  with  which  she  is  already  in  communion. 

This  serenity  as  regards  death,  and  this  preparation  for 


116  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

its  approach,  are  of  more  general  occurrence  among  the 
people  of  England  and  North  America  than  in  any  other 
country  that  I  am  acquainted  with.  People  there  regard 
it  as  one  of  their  human  privileges,  that,  as  it  must  occur, 
to  become  acquainted  with  its  state,  and  their  own  pil- 
grimage of  death ;  to  approach  the  hour  of  their  change 
with  an  open  glance  and  a  vigilant  mind,  and  with  a  full 
consciousness  of  the  importance  of  their  transit,  to  prepare 
themselves  for  it. 

December  10>th.  A  day  of  supreme  life  from  a  great 
number  of  living  interests  and  thoughts.  Thoughts  re- 
garding the  human  brain  and  the  central  point  of  view 
in  which  man  stands  with  regard  to  the  whole  universe ; 
glimpses  of  prevision  from  this  sun  and  point  of  sight 
through  an  infinite  expanse  into  the  realms  of  all  life,  are 
predominant  in  my  soul.  Shall  I  ever  be  in  full  possession 
of  myself,  ever  fully  possess  the  world  of  thought  which 
flashes  through  my  soul? 

I  can  not  write  much  more  to  you  to-day,  because  I 
must  write  many  letters,  and,  above  all,  one  to  Boklin, 
which  I  shall  inclose  in  this,  and  which  you  can  read  if 
you  so  incline.  It  will  complete  various  things  in  my  let- 
ter to  you.  Spite  of  all  the  interests  which  detain  me 
here,  and  all  the  charms  of  my  home,  I  long  to  proceed 
southward.  I  am  afraid  of  the  winter  in  the  keen  air  of 
Cincinnati,  and  of  the  American  mode  of  heating  rooms, 
which  is  horrible.  It  is  unquestionably  the  cause  of  much 
of  that  disease  which  seems  more  and  more  on  the  increase 
among  the  class  of  people  who  live  most  comfortably  and 
most  within  doors.  I  long  also  to  reach  the  South  before 
Christmas,  that  I  may,  if  possible,  have  an  opportunity  of 
seeing  those  dances  and  festivities  of  which  I  have  heard 
are  common  among  the  negroes  of  the  plantations  at 
Christmas.  I  have  heard  much  said  about  the  happiness 
of  the  negroes  in  America,  of  their  songs  and  dances,  and 
I  wish,  therefore,  for  once  to  see  this  happiness  and  their 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  H7 

festivals.  In  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  the  preachers 
have  done  away  with  dancing  and  the  singing  of  songs. 
In  Louisiana  there  is  no  preaching  to  the  slaves ;  perhaps 
they  may  there  sing  and  dance. 

11th.  A  large  and  excellent  steamer  leaves  this  evening 
for  New  Orleans,  and  with  it  I  shall  proceed  thither  with 
my  cavalier,  Mr.  H. 

I  must  still  say  a  few  words  to  you  ahout  two  very 
pleasant  parties  which  have  been  given  by  my  friends. 
My  objection  to  small  familiar  evening  parties  in  America 
is  that  they  occupy  themselves  so  little  by  reading  aloud, 
or  by  any  other  means  of  drawing  the  little  circle  toward 
one  common  point  of  interest. 

In  large  parties,  however,  many  of  the  elements  are  met 
with  which  make  social  intercourse  perfect,  among  which 
may  be  reckoned  as  foremost  that  the  two  sexes  are  prop- 
erly intermingled.  One  never  sees  the  gentlemen  here  all 
crowding  into  one  room,  and  the  ladies  into  another,  or  the 
former  in  one  corner  of  the  drawing-room  and  the  latter 
in  another,  just  as  if  they  were  afraid  of  each  other.  The 
gentlemen  who  come  into  society — and  they  seem  very 
fond  of  drawing-room  society  in  an  evening — consider  it 
as  a  duty,  and,  as  it  seems  to  me,  often  also  a  pleasure, 
to  entertain  the  ladies,  and  this  evident  good- will  on  their 
part  awakes  in  them,  perhaps,  not  a  greater  desire,  but 
certainly  a  greater  power  of  being  agreeable  and  enter- 
taining, more  ability  to  impart  to  men  of  good  taste  and 
noble  mind  something  much  better  than  cigar  smoke  and 
punch.  A  gentleman  will  commonly  occupy  himself  for 
a  long  time,  frequently  the  whole  evening,  with  one  lady. 
People  sit  on  lounges,  or  on  small  sofas  of  all  sorts,  in 
pairs,  conversing  together  ;  or  the  gentleman  gives  the 
lady  his  arm,  and  they  take  a  promenade  through  the 
room.  Sometimes  two  ladies  will  sit  conversing  together 
for  a  long  time ;  but  the  rule  is  for  the  two  who  associate 
together  to  be  man  and  woman.     Nor  is  it  always  the 


118  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

handsomest  nor  the  most  elegant  lady  who  wins  the  most 
attention.  I  have  seen  Mr.  H.,  a  young  and  very  agree- 
able man,  occupy  himself  for  whole  hours  in  animated 
conversation  with  Miss  Harriet.  True  it  is  that  he  has  a 
great  esteem  for  her,  and  in  this  he  shows  his  good  taste. 
I  do  not  know  that  I  have  ever  seen  card-playing  in  any 
parties,  large  or  small,  in  this  country. 

I  shall  always  remember  with  feelings  of  affection  some 
young  girls  with  whom  I  have  lately  become  acquainted, 
one  among  whom  has  lately  met  with  a  bitter  trial ;  but, 
instead  of  allowing  it  to'  embitter  her  own  heart,  it  has 
only  the  more  caused  it  to  expand  with  sympathy  to  all 
who  suffer.  Grod's  peace  rest  upon  that  young  girl !  She 
would  become  very  dear  to  me.  Some  sisters  also  there 
were,  who  in  pleasure  and  in  pain  live  together  as  sisters 
seldom  do  live.  And  that  K.  G\,  with  her  beaming  soul 
and  her  music,  she  will  always  remain  near  my  heart ; 
but  now  I  must  proceed  on  my  journey,  and  for  this  I 
must  get  ready. 

"  Belle  Key,"  the  steamer  by  which  I  shall  travel,  so 
called  from  the  beautiful  daughter  of  its  proprietor,  a  belle 
of  Louisville,  is  a  sort  of  giant  vessel,  which,  laded  with 
every  kind  of  product  of  the  Great  West,  goes  as  a  Christ- 
mas-envoy to  New  Orleans. 

It  is  now  cold  at  Cincinnati :  the  Queen  of  the  West 
rains  down  soot  and  ashes,  so  that  one  becomes  quite 
grimy.  I  long  to  be  with  that  great  Christmas-beast 
once  more  on  the  Mississippi. 

P.S. — It  is  said  that  there  is  especially  fine  wooing  in 
the  Great  West ;  a  young  girl  has  at  least  three  or  four 
suitors  to  choose  from.  Certainly,  the  number  of  men 
considerably  predominates  over  that  of  women.  In  the 
Eastern  States  it  seems  to  me  that  the  women  are  in  ex- 
cess. The  men  go  out  thence  into  the  West  on  the  search 
for  occupation  and  wealth.  The  preponderance  of  men 
over  women  increases  the  further  you  advance  westward. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  H9 

It  was  said  at  Cincinnati  that  at  a  ball  at  San  Francisco 
there  were  fifty  gentlemen  for  one  lady.  It  is  also  said 
that  in  the  gold  district,  where  there  are  great  numbers 
of  men  and  no  women,  that  they  hung  up  in  some  kind 
of  museum  a  lady's  dress,  which  was  contemplated  as  a 
sort  of  fabulous  thing.  But  I  suspect  that  this  belongs  to 
the  mythological  legends  of  the  Great  West. 

In  the  same  category  may  be  placed  that  of  the  Oar- 
den  of  Eden  near  Cincinnati,  which  I  am  invited  to  visit. 
It  is  said  to  be  a  large  vineyard ;  but  the  beauty  of  the 
views  from  the  heights  of  the  Ohio  may  justify  the  name. 


LETTER    XXX. 


TO    THE    REV.    P.    J.    BOKLIN. 


Cincinnati,  November  27th. 

I  have  now  spent  more  than  a  year  in  the  New  "World 
without  having  fulfilled  my  promise  of  writing  to  you,  my 
friend  and  teacher  ;  without  having  told  you  what  I  think 
of  it,  and  what  I  hope  from  it.  And  yet,  at  the  same 
time,  I  knew  that  you  wished  to  know  it. 

My  good  friend,  I  have  not  hitherto  been  able  to  write 
to  you.  I  wished  not  to  give  you  my  crude  thoughts  and 
descriptions,  and  it  was  long  before  I  could  give  other 
than  such.  The  effect  produced  upon  me,  and  the  daily 
occurrences  of  my  life  in  this  country,  were  in  the  first 
instance  overpowering,  as  well  for  soul  as  for  body;  and, 
to  a  certain  degree,  I  was  really  borne  down  by  them. 
The  violent  torrent  of  new,  and,  for  the  most  part,  raptur- 
ous impressions,  the  incessant  labor  with  new  objects, 
new  people,  together  with  the  effects  of  a  hot  climate,  and 
food  to  which  I  was  unaccustomed,  reduced  me  to  that 
state  of  feverish,  nervous  excitement,  that  for  months  I 
was  unable  to  read,  or  even  to  think  on  any  subject  which 
required  the  slightest  exertion  of  mind. 


120  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

The  mercy  oi  God,  however,  the  care  of  good  people, 
the  healing  powers  of  nature  and  of  art,  enabled  me,  by- 
degrees,  to  rise  above  this  state  of  weakness.  I  was  able 
once  more  to  live  and  learn. 

But,  during  that  daily  labor,  to  make  myself  master  of 
those  subjects  which  pressed  upon  me  on  all  sides  during 
my  wanderings,  and  the  endeavor  to  arrange  my  thoughts, 
it  became  more  and  more  clear  to  me  that,  in  order  to  ar- 
rive at  any  just  conclusion  with  regard  to  the  moral,  intel- 
lectual, and  religious  culture,  as  it  existed  in  the  states 
of  North  America,  I  must  see  more  of  its  various  forms 
and  developments;  I  must  become  acquainted  with  life, 
as  well  in  the  Northeastern  as  in  the  Southern  and  the 
Western  States  of  the  Union ;  I  must  see  the  life  of  Amer- 
ica, both  where  it  had  established  and  perfected  itself,  and 
where  it  was  yet  endeavoring  to  break  the  clod  of  the 
earth's  surface,  to  build  new  homes,  to  conquer  new  life 
and  new  lands. 

"When  I  shall  have  seen  the  Great  West,  the  valley 
of  the  Mississippi,  Cincinnati,  the  Queen  of  the  West,  I 
will  write  to  Bbklin.  Then  I  shall  better  understand, 
shall  be  better  able  to  speak  of  the  New  World,  and  of 
that  future  for  humanity  which  it  bears  in  its  bosom!" 
Thus  said  I  to  myself. 

Now  I  am  at  Cincinnati.  I  have  seen  and  I  see  before 
me  the  Great  West,  the  central  region  of  North  America. 
I  have  traveled  through  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  the 
future  home  of  more  than  two  hundred  and  seventy-five 
millions  of  people ;  on  the  great  river,  the  banks  of  which 
already  swarm  wTith  multitudes  of  European  people ;  from 
Minnesota,  still  the  wild  abode  of  the  Indian  tribes ;  from 
the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  where  commences  the  career  of 
the  river  in  the  North,  to  its  midmost  region  by  the  Mis- 
souri and  the  Ohio ;  and  am  now  about  to  follow  its  course 
to  its  outlet  into  the  Mexican  Gulf,  the  realm  of  the  sugar- 
cane and  perpetual  summer. 


riOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  !21 

And  while  I  am  resting  here  on  the  banks  of  the  beau- 
tiful River  Ohio,  like  the  wearied  dove  on  the  olive-branch, 
in  one  of  those  beautiful,  peaceful  homes  which  every 
where  on  my  journeyings  through  America  have  opened 
themselves  to  me,  and  afforded  me  the  repose  of  a  moth- 
er's home — repose,  peace,  love,  cheerfulness,  and  renewed 
strength — I  will  converse  with  you — you,  my  spirit's  and 
my  mind's  best  friend,  found  late  but  for  eternity.  Ah! 
but  even  now  I  can  merely  speak  a  few  words  to  you, 
give  you  a  few  fragments  of  that  which  I  have  experi- 
enced and  learned,  and  which  I  still  experience  and  learn 
in  this  New  World.  But  you  will  understand  what  I  can 
merely  imperfectly  indicate;  you  will  follow  still  further 
through  the  labyrinth  the  thread  which  I  lay  in  your  hand. 

You  know  that  I  did  not  come  to  America  to  seek  for 
a  new  object,  but  to  establish  a  new  hope.  While  one 
portion  of  the  people  of  Europe,  after  a  struggle  for  light 
and  freedom,  which  in  part  mistook  its  own  purpose,  and 
not  clearly  knowing  that  which  it  desired,  seemed  (per- 
haps merely  seemed)  to  sink  back  again  under  a  despotism 
which  knew  better  what  it  aimed  at,  obtaining  for  a  time 
the  power  of  might;  in  that  gloomy  season  my  soul  raised^ 
itself  in  deep  faith  and  love  toward  that  distant  land, 
where  the  people  erected  the  banner  of  human  freedom, 
declared  the  human  right  and  ability  to  govern  them- 
selves, and  on  this  right  founded  a  monarchy  of  states — 
the  commencement  of  the  world's  greatest  governmental 
culture. 

That  which  I  sought  for  there  was  the  new  human  be- 
ing and  his  world;  the  new  humanity  and  the  sight  of  its 
future  on  the  soil  of  the  New  World. 

I  will  tell  you  what  I  have  so  far  seen  and  found. 

I  spent  the  last  autumn  and  winter  in  the  northeastern 
states  of  the  Union,  New  York,  Massachusetts,  Coinecti- 
cut — the  mother  states  from  which  the  swarm  o  people 
have  gone  forth,  and  still  go  forth  to  populate  the  American 

Vol.  II.— F 


122  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

continent,  and  to  give  it  laws  and  manners.  That  which 
is  most  admirable  in  these  mother  states  is  the  number  of 
great  institutions  for  the  education  of  youth  and  in  aid  of 
the  unfortunate,  schools  and  asylums.  These  are  the  off- 
spring of  a  large  heart,  and  they  have  a  broad  basis.  It 
is  a  joy  to  see  and  hear  the  children  taught  in  these  pub- 
lic schools,  which  are  all  free  schools,  in  large  and  airy 
halls.  One  can  see  that  they  are  all  awake  and  full  of 
life ;  one  can  hear  that  they  understand  that  which  they 
read  and  learn.  The  great  reformation  which  has  taken 
place  in  the  conduct  of  schools,  and  the  impulse  which  has 
been  given  toward  a  universal  popular  education  in  Amer- 
ica, are  the  result,  in  great  measure,  of  the  enthusiasm, 
perseverance,  and  determined  resolution  of  a  single  indi- 
vidual, Horace  Mann;  and  this  fact  is,  without  question, 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  the  most  significant  phe- 
nomena of  this  national  cultivation,  especially  as  it  em- 
braces woman  as  well  as  man,  and  places  her  side  by  side 
with  him  as  the  teachers  of  the  rising  generation.* 

I  have  traced  this  from  the  East  to  the  West,  from  those 
magnificent  academies  where  five  hundred  students,  boys 
or  girls,  study  and  take  degrees  preparatory  to  public  life, 
as  teachers  and  teacheresses,  to  the  log-huts  of  the  West- 
ern wilderness,  where  school-books  lie  open  before  the  rag- 
ged children,  which  convey  the  mind  over  the  whole  world, 
and  where  the  noblest  pearls  of  American  and  English 
literature  are  to  be  found.  I  have  talked  with  Horace 
Mann — the  man  of  immeasurable  hope,  and  I  have  thence 
derived  great  hope  for  the  intellectual  and  moral  perfect- 
ing of  the  human  race,  and  for  its  future  in  this  portion  of 
the  world  ;  for  that  which  is  in  the  Northeastern  States, 
in  the  oldest  homes  of  the  Piigrims,  the  same  will  be  soon- 

*  Ycmng  girls  learn,  in  the  high  schools,  Latin,  Greek,  mathematics, 
algebra,  the  physical  sciences,  and,  it  is  said,  have  the  greatest  facility  in 
acquiring  a  knowledge  of  these  subjects,  which  are  considered  with  us  so 
difficult,  if  not  incomprehensible,  to  the  female  intellect. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  !23 

er  or  later  in  the  South  and  the  West.  A  great  and  liv- 
ing intelligence  in  the  popular  mind  mixes  itself  up  more 
and  more  in  the  great  question  of  popular  education,  and 
goes  onward  conquering  like  a  subtle  power  of  nature,  a 
stream  of  spiritual  life  forcing  a  way  for  itself  through  all 
impediment.  Would  you  hear  how  it  speaks  through  its 
most  powerful  representative  in  the  New  World  ?  Thus 
writes  Horace  Mann  in  his  invitation  to  the  National  Con- 
vention of  the  friends  of  Education,  in  August,  1850  : 

"A  few  considerations  will  serve  to  show  that  there 
never  has  been  a  period  in  the  history  of  man  when  uni- 
versal education  was  so  imperative  a  duty  as  at  the  pres- 
ent moment.  I  mean  education  in  its  most  comprehens- 
ive and  philosophic  sense,  as  including  the  education  of 
the  body,  the  education  of  the  mind,  and  the  education  of 
the  heart. 

"  In  regard  to  the  first  topic,  it  is  well  known  that  phys- 
ical qualities  are  hereditary.  Disease  and  weakness  de- 
scend from  parent  to  offspring  by  a  law  of  nature,  as  names 
descend  by  a  law  of  custom,  (rod  still  ordains  that  the 
bodily  iniquities  of  the  fathers  shall  be  visited  upon  the 
children  unto  the  third  and  fourth  generation.  When  we 
look  backward  and  see  how  the  numbers  of  our  ancestors 
is  doubled  at  each  remove  in  the  ascending  scale,  it  af- 
frights us  to  reflect  how  many  confluent  streams  from  vi- 
cious fountains  may  have  been  poured  into  the  physical 
system  of  a  single  individual.  Where,  for  many  genera- 
tions, this  horrid  entailment  of  maladies  has  not  been  bro- 
ken by  a  single  obedient  and  virtuous  life,  who  can  con- 
ceive of  the  animal  debasements  and  depravities  that  may 
centre  in  a  single  person?  At  every  descent,  the  worst 
may  become  worse ;  and  the  possible  series  of  deteriora- 
tion is  infinite.  Before  the  human  race,  or  any  part  of  it, 
becomes  more  diseased,  or  physically  more  vile,  is  it  not 
time  to  arrest  and  restore?  This  can  be  done  through 
education  or  through  miracles,  and  it  would  require  more 


124  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

than  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  miracles  every  year  to 
preserve  health  and  strength  under  our  present  vicious  so- 
cial habits.  Those  who  do  not  expect  the  intervention  of 
miracles  are  false  to  their  families,  to  the  community,  and 
to  Grod,  if  they  do  not  urge  forward  the  work  of  physical 
education  as  the  only  means  of  rescuing  the  race  from 
an  infinity  of  sicknesses,  weaknesses,  and  pains.  Public 
schools  are  the  only  instrumentality  for  inculcating  upon 
the  community  at  large  a  knowledge  of  the  great  laws  of 
health  and  life. 

"  There  never  was  such  a  necessity  of  imparting  power 
to  the  human  intellect,  and  of  replenishing  it  with  knowl- 
edge, as  at  the  present  time ;  and  in  no  country  is  this 
necessity  so  imperative  as  in  our  own.  The  common  af- 
fairs of  life  require  a  hundred  times  more  knowledge  now 
than  they  did  a  century  ago.  New  forms,  and  kinds  of 
business  too,  are  daily  emerging  into  practice,  which  must 
be  conducted  with  intelligence  and  skill,  or  they  will  ruin 
their  conductors.  How  much  more  knowledge  and  art 
are  requisite  to  make  a  cotton  or  woolen  factory,  with  all 
its  nice  and  numerous  appendages,  than  to  manage  a  spin- 
ning-wheel or  a  distaff;  to  manage  a  locomotive  on  a  rail- 
road, than  to  drive  a  team  on  a  highway  ;  to  manage  a 
telegraph,  than  to  send  a  courier,  &c.  The  profoundest 
sciences  are  working  their  way  into  the  every-day  busi- 
ness of  life,  and  carrying  power,  and  beauty,  and  multi- 
plication of  products  wherever  they  go,  and  whosoever 
can  not  rise  upon  the  benefits  they  confer  will  be  left  in 
poverty,  misery,  and  contempt. 

"  Not  only  in  all  the  departments  of  business  are  there 
every  where  more  life,  energy,  and  compass,  but  the  mass- 
es of  the  people  are  investing  themselves,  or  are  becoming 
invested,  with  new  social  and  political  prerogatives.  The 
freeman,  who  may  go  where  he  pleases,  and  select  what- 
ever occupation  he  pleases,  needs  vastly  more  judgment 
and  intelligence  than  the  subject  of  a  despotism  who  is 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  125 

born  in  some  niche  of  labor,  and  must  stay  where  he  is 
born.  The  citizen,  who  manages  not  only  his  own  per- 
sonal affairs,  but  those  of  his  municipality  ;  who  governs 
himself  in  all  his  political  relations  through  representa- 
tives chosen  by  himself;  whose  vote  may  determine  not 
only  who  shall  be  the  rulers,  but  what  measures  of  na- 
tional or  international  policy  shall  be  established  or  an- 
nulled, on  whose  will  peace  or  war,  national  honor  or  na- 
tional infamy  may  depend — such  a  citizen,  in  capacity, 
in  knowledge,  and  in  wisdom,  should  be  as  a  god  in  com- 
parison with  a  Russian  serf  or  a  Hindoo  pariah.  At  this 
time,  I  say,  there  is  vastly  more  for  the  mind  of  man  to  do 
and  to  understand  than  there  ever  was  before,  and  there- 
fore that  mind  must  be  proportionably  strengthened  and 
illumined.  m 

"  There  never  was  a  time  when  the  moral  nature  of 
man  needed  culture  and  purification  more  than  it  needs 
them  at  the  present  hour.  What  we  call  civilization  and 
progress  have  increased  temptations  a  thousand-fold- — in 
this  country  ten  thousand-fold.  The  race  for  wealth,  lux- 
ury, ambition,  and  pride  is  open  to  all.  With  our  mul- 
tiplied privileges  have  come  not  only  multiplied  obliga- 
tions, which  we  may  contemn,  but  multiplied  dangers 
into  which  we  may  fall.  Where  oppression  and  despot- 
ism reign,  all  the  nobler  faculties  of  man  are  dwarfed, 
stunted,  and  shorn  of  their  power.  But  oppression  and 
despotism  dwarfs  and  stunts,  and  despoils  of  their  power, 
all  the  evil  passions  of  men,  not  less  than  their  nobler  im- 
pulses. In  this  country,  all  that  is  base  and  depraved  in 
the  human  heart  has  such  full  liberty  and  wide  compass, 
and  hot  stimulus  of  action,  as  has  never  been  known  be- 
fore. Wickedness  not  less  than  virtue — diabolism  not  less 
than  utilitarianism,  has  its  steam-engines,  and  its  power- 
presses,  and  its  lightning  telegraphs.  Those  external  re- 
straints of  blind  reverence  for  authority,  and  superstitious 
dread  of  religious   guides,  and  fiery  penal  codes,  which 


126  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

once  repressed  the  passions  of  man,  and  paralyzed  all  en- 
ergy, are  now  lifted  off.  If  internal  and  moral  restraints 
be  not  substituted  for  the  external  and  arbitrary  ones  that 
are  removed,  the  people,  instead  of  being  conquerors  and 
sovereigns  over  their  passions,  will  be  their  victims  and 
their  slaves.  Even  the  clearest  revelations  from  heaven, 
and  the  sanctifying  influences  from  God,  unless  vouch- 
safed to  us  so  daily  and  momently  as  to  supersede  all  vo- 
lition and  conscience  of  ours,  would  not  preclude  a  virtu- 
ous training  as  an  indispensable  prerequisite  to  a  happy 
and  honorable  life.  .  He  takes  but  a  limited  view  of  the 
influences  and  the  efficacy  of  Christian  ethics  who  does 
not  strive  to  incorporate  and  mould  them  into  the  habits 
and  sentiments  of  youth ;  who,  as  fast  as  the  juvenile 
mind  opens  to  the  perception  of  wonder,  and  beauty,  and 
of  truth,  has  not  exhaustless  store  of  moral  wonders,  and 
beauties,  and  truths,  ready  for  the  transfusion  into  it." 

Thus  speaks  the  President  of  the  National  Convention 
of  the  Friends  of  Education,  the  man  of  Education  par 
excellence  in  North  America.  He  is  a  Massachusetts 
man,  and  is,  at  the  present  time,  representative  of  the 
Pilgrim  State  in  Congress. 

You  see  the  ground  that  he  takes.  The  enlightenment 
of  the  moral  and  intellectual  being  by  means  of  a  school 
education,  common  to  all,  such  is  the  foundation  upon 
which  the  New  World  would  erect  its  dominion,  such  the 
means  by  which  the  new  human  being  is  to  be  brought 
forth.  Thus  far  has  the  popular  consciousness  advanced 
in  the  New  World — no  further,  at  least,  with  a  perfect 
consciousness. 

The  consciousness  has  arisen  most  clearly  and  with 
most  strength  in  the  States  of  New  England,  the  oldest 
home  of  the  Pilgrims.  Unwearied  and  fearless  endeavors 
for  the  development  of  the  life  of  the  state,  and  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  more  indigent  classes  of  society,  the  endeavor 
to  oroduce   a  perfectly  harmonious  human  community, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  127 

characterize  the  life  of  these  states.  The  idea  of  a  Chris- 
tian state,  a  Christian  community,  evidently  forms  the 
basis  of  all  this.  The  doctrines  of  Christ ;  the  honor  of 
labor;  the  right  of  all,  and  the  well-being  of  all  ;  every 
thing  for  all  !  are  the  battle-cries  which  one  hears.  The 
harps  of  the  poets  have  called  forth  the  moral  ideal  of 
man  and  of  society ! 

From  these  states  I  proceeded  in  the  month  of  March, 
while  frost  and  snow  covered  the  ground,  to  the  Southern 
States  of  North  America,  and  spent  about  three  months  in 
the  Palmetto  States,  South  Carolina  and  Georgia.  There 
the  sun  was  warm.  And  though  I  found  slavery  there, 
and  saw  its  dark  shadow  on  the  sun-bright  earth,  saw  its 
fetters  contract  the  moral  and  political  development  of 
these  states,  I  still  enjoyed  my  life  as  I  had  not  done  in 
those  intellectual,  upward  -  striving,  restlessly  -  laboring 
Northern  States.  I  had  more  repose,  and  I  was  better  in 
health.  The  soft  beauty  of  the  air  and  the  climate  at 
this  season,  the  luxuriance  of  the  vegetation,  the  beauti- 
ful new  flowers,  the  odors,  the  fruits,  the  magnificence  of 
the  primeval  forest  along  the  banks  of  the  Red  River ;  the 
glow  of  the  fire-flies  in  the  dusk,  warm  nights ;  my  ram- 
bles beneath  the  Gothic  arcades  of  the  live-oaks,  hung 
with  their  long,  swaying  masses  of  moss,  a  spectacle  at 
once  novel  and  enchanting  to  a  European  eye ;  a  certain 
romantic  picturesqueness  of  life,  caused  by  the  contact  of 
the  black  and  the  white  races  on  this  beautiful,  fragrant 
soil ;  the  peculiar  life  and  temperament  of  the  negroes, 
their  songs,  and  religious  festivals — will  you  forgive  me 
for  being  enchanted  with  these,  and  for  allowing  myself 
to  forget,  or  to  see  less  strongly  the  darkness  of  slavery, 
than  these  images  of  light  which  the  beauty  of  the  South 
called  forth  in  natural  objects  and  individual  man.  No 
poet  here  has  sung  the  moral  ideal  of  society,  but  the 
hundred-tongued  bird  (Turdus  polyglottos),  the  nightin- 
gale of  North  America,  sings  in  those  fragrant  forests,  and 


123  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

earth,  with  its  human  beings  and  its  flowers,  seems  bathed 
in  light.  Yet,  that  I  was  not  blinded  to  the  night-side, 
and  to  the  great  lie  in  the  life  of  the  South,  is  proved  by 
my  letters  home. 

The  most  beautiful  moral  phenomenon  which  I  saw, 
however,  was  the  inbreaking  light  of  Christianity  among 
the  children  of  Africa,  the  endeavors  which  true  Christians, 
especially  in  G-eorgia,  are  making  for  the  religious  instruc- 
tion of  the  slaves,  and  their  emancipation  and  colonization 
in  Liberia,  on  the  African  coast.  A  vessel  goes  annually 
from  Savannah  to  Liberia,  laden  with  emancipated  slaves, 
together  with  the  means  for  their  establishment  in  that, 
the  original  mother  country.  But  this  phenomenon  is  no 
more  than  a  little  point  of  light  in  the  gloomy  picture  of 
slavery  in  these  states.  It  is  a  work  of  private  individ- 
uals. The  laws  of  the  states  are  deficient  in  light  and 
justice  as  regards  the  slave,  and  are  unworthy  of  a  free 
country  and  people! 

In  the  month  of  May  I  hastened  from  the  glowing  South 
and  traveled  northward  to  Pennsylvania,  and  afterward 
to  Delaware. 

Amid  the  greatest  heats  of  summer,  I  found  myself  in 
the  hot  cities  of  Philadelphia  and  Washington.  I  inter- 
ested myself  in  Philadelphia  by  becoming  acquainted 
with  the  Quakers,  and  the  life  of  the  inward  light  in  good 
and  benevolent  institutions.  I  read  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  the  great  charter  of  liberty  of  the  American 
people,  and  proceeded  onward  to  Washington,  to  watch 
the  combat  in  Congress  on  the  subject  of  the  great  con- 
tested question  between  the  free  and  the  slave  states,  be- 
tween the  North  and  the  South,  about  the  admission  of 
California  and  New  Mexico  as  free  states  into  the  Union. 
It  was  carried  on  with  great  violence,  and  the  stability  of 
the  Union  was  threatened  every  day.  You  know  already, 
through  the  newspapers,  the  compromise  which  was  made, 
and  which  pacified  the  strife  for  a  time ;  for  the  strife  and 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  129 

the  danger  still  exists,  secretly  or  openly,  so  long  as  slavery 
and  slaves  are  to  be  found  within  the  American  Union ; 
and  the  stronger  grows  the  human  and  the  political  con- 
sciousness of  this  country,  the  more  keen  will  become  the 
struggle  to  concentrate  itself  on  this  point,  the  fiercer  will 
become  the  warfare. 

I  saw  great  statesmen  and  heard  great  speeches  in 
Washington,  and  I  believe  that  no  country  on  earth  can 
at  this  time  present  an  assembly  of  greater  talent  or  of 
more  remarkable  men  than  may  be  met  with  in  the  Sen- 
ate of  the  United  States.  Political  injustice  and  political 
bitterness  I  found  here,  as  every  where  on  the  political 
battle-field. 

That  which  struck  me  most  in  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  was  the  mode  of  representation.  You  know 
something  of  it  from  books  and  newspapers ;  each  state, 
small  or  large,  in  the  Union,  sends  two  senators  to  Con- 
gress. These  constitute  the  Senate,  or  Upper  House. 
The  representatives,  who  constitute  the  second  chamber, 
or  Lower  House,  are  sent  by  each  separate  state,  accord- 
ing to  the  number  of  its  population ;  the  larger  the  popu- 
lation, the  more  representatives  to  Congress.  Each  indi- 
vidual state  of  the  Union  governs  itself  in  the  same  man- 
ner by  two  chambers,  a  Senate  and  House  of  Representa- 
tives, the  numbers  of  which  are  elected  in  the  state  by  the 
citizens  of  the  state ;  and  each  state  has  its  own  Capitol. 

This  mode  of  representation  brings  forth  much  nation- 
ality, and  much  that  is  picturesque  in  the  living,  peculiar 
life  of  each  state.  The  Granite  State  and  the  Palmetto 
State,  "Old  Yirginny"  and  new  Wisconsin,  Minnesota  and 
Louisiana,  each  so  separate  and  so  peculiar  in  situation, 
scenery,  climate,  products,  population,  stand  forth  in  Con- 
gress as  individuals,  and  take  part  in  the  treatment  of 
public  questions,  which  are  interesting  to  the  whole  hu- 
man race,  according  to  characteristics  which  are  peculiar 
to  themselves  and  common  to  all. 

F2 


130  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

I  could  not  help  thinking,  during  all  this,  of  the  repre- 
sentation of  Sweden,  and  its  much-talked  of  construc- 
tion. It  occurred  to  me  that  there  could  not  be  any  form 
more  suitable  or  more  calculated  to  awaken  national  life 
and  consciousness  than  one  resembling  this  of  the  United 
States.  I  saw  Norrland  and  Scania,  Dalecarlia  and  Ble- 
king,  East  Grbthland  and  West  Grbthland,  and  all  our  prov- 
inces, peculiar  in  people,  scenery,  products,  stand  forth  in 
the  Diet  of  Sweden,  and  by  means  of  its  senators  cast  new 
light  upon  the  condition  of  the  country,  its  wants,  and  its 
hitherto  hidden  or  unavailing  sources  of  prosperity.  I 
saw  the  north,  the  south,  and  the  central  parts  of  Sweden, 
its  east  and  its  west,  illumined  by  rays  of  light  which  till 
then  had  not  penetrated  them,  and  the  popular  conscious- 
ness and  popular  life  under  the  guidance  of  representa- 
tives, worthy,  through  their  knowledge  and  their  personal 
character,  to  represent  that  individual  province  in  its  pe- 
culiarities and  its  life,  as  a  portion  of  a  great  whole,  of  a 
country,  a  people  with  an  inheritance  as  great  as  the  for- 
mer history  of  Sweden,  a  future  which  may  emulate  in 
human  greatness  that  of  the  greatest  people  on  the  earth. 

In  the  oldest  times  of  Sweden,  when  the  judges  (Lagmii- 
ennen)  of  each  province  appeared  at  the  Allsharjarthing, 
and  there,  as  the  wisest  and  best  of  the  land,  conveyed  the 
speech  of  the  common  people  to  the  King  of  Sweden  (Svea- 
land),  the  most  ancient  representation  of  our  country  was 
in  idea  similar  to  that  now  existing  in  North  America. 

Such  a  representation  of  country  and  of  people  seems 
to  me  in  a  high  degree  conformable  to  nature  and  nation- 
ality. And  what  a  field  is  hereby  opened  to  talent  and  to 
the  orator! 

President  Taylor  died  during  my  stay  at  "Washington, 
and  I  was  present  at  the  installation  of  his  legal  successor, 
President  Fillmore,  into  his  office  —  the  highest  in  the 
United  States.  Nothing  could  be  simpler,  or  more  desti- 
tute of  pomp  and  show,  or  more  unlike  our  royal  corona- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  131 

tions.  But — I  have  nothing  to  say  against  these.  They 
present  beautiful  and  picturesque  spectacles;  and  without 
spectacle  people  can  not  very  well  live,  not  even  in  this 
country,  as  is  seen  by  the  eagerness  with  which  they  every 
where  rush  to  see  any  thing  new.  What  a  beautiful 
spectacle  did  we  not  behold  in  Sweden  on  the  coronation 
of  King  Carl  Johan  and  King  Oscar !  I  remember,  in  par- 
ticular at  the  latter,  those  young  princes,  the  three  sons  of 
Oscar,  in  their  princely  attire,  when  they  came  forward  to 
take  the  oath  to  their  royal  father  —  no  one  could  have 
seen  more  beautiful  forms,  hardly  a  more  lovely  sight! 

After  having  bathed  in  the  foaming  sea  on  the  eastern 
coast,  I  betook  myself  into  the  West.  I  had  seen  the 
North  and  the  South  of  the  Union,  now  I  would  see  the 
Great  West.  I  longed  for  it  greatly.  I  had  heard  much 
in  the  Eastern  States,  and  in  the  North  and  in  the  South 
also,  of  that  Great  West,  of  its  wonderful  growth  and  prog- 
ress. In  what  did  these  consist?  I  had  a  great  desire  to 
know. 

On  my  journey  westward  I  made  acquaintance  with 
the  giants  of  nature,  Trenton  and  Niagara,  sailed  across 
the  great  lakes,  Ontario,  Erie,  Michigan,  to  visit  the  Swed- 
ish and  Norwegian  settlements  on  the  Mississippi,  partook 
of  Swedish  hospitality,  and  saw  Swedish  roses  bloom  fresh- 
ly in  the  new  soil,  and  beheld  a  new  Scandinavia  arising 
in  the  wilderness  of  the  West.  After  that  I  advanced  up 
the  Mississippi,  to  the  region  where  lie  the  sources  of  the 
Great  River,  saw  glorious  mountainous  scenery,  ruin-like 
crags,  ascending  above  oak-crowded  hills,  ruins  of  the  pri- 
meval ages  where  the  first-born  Titans  of  nature,  the  Me- 
gatherium, the  Mastodon,  the  Ichthyosaurian,  wandered 
alone  over  the  earth,  and  man  as  yet  did  not  exist.  And 
he  is  still  an  unfrequent  guest  in  these  immense  wilder- 
nesses, where  it  is  yet  silent  and  desolate.  It  is  true  that 
here  and  there  a  little  log-hut  is  erected  at  the  foot  of 
the  lulls  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  and  that  beside 


132  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

it  is  seen  a  little  field  of  Indian  corn  ;  that  is  the  first  trace 
of  civilization  in  these  regions.  But  it  is  like  the  print 
of  the  one  human  foot  on  Robinson  Crusoe's  uninhabit- 
ed island.  Close  beside  it  are  the  primeval  forests  of  the 
wilderness,  where  only  the  wild  beasts  and  Indians,  in 
perpetual  warfare  with  each  other,  have  their  dwelling. 
Close  beside  it  are  those  immense  prairies,  the  flowery  des- 
erts of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  where  the  grass  waves  like 
heavy  billows,  far,  far  away  toward  the  distant  horizon, 
untouched  by  human  hands,  because  here  there  are  no 
human  hands  to  mow,  not  one  thousandth  part.  And  that 
which  made  a  deeper  impression  upon  me  than  Niagara, 
than  any  thing  which  I  have  seen  in  this  hemisphere  or 
in  Europe,  are  these  immeasurable  prairie  views  which 
belong  to  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and  which  increase 
in  extent  the  nearer  one  approaches  the  Great  River.  It 
is  glorious  to  behold  these  ocean-like  views,  with  their 
waves  of  sunflowers,  and  their  lofty,  heaving  billows  of 
grass  beneath  the  heaven  of  America,  clear  and  resplen- 
dent with  sunshine,  or  through  bright  expanses  of  which 
float  masses  of  cloud.  The  soul  expands  itself,  and,  as  it 
were,  opens  itself  to  the  gentle,  free  wind  which  soughs 
over  the  plain,  and  sounding  melodiously  as  it  passes  by 
the  wires  of  the  electric  telegraph  which  are  stretched 
across  it.  Each  day  of  my  journey  westward  was  a  fes- 
tival, as  I  sped  along  on  wings  of  steam  over  the  plain, 
ever  and  ever  toward  the  golden  setting  sun,  as  if  speeding 
into  his  realms  of  light ! 

The  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  from  Minnesota  in  the 
north  to  Louisiana  in  the  south,  between  the  Alleghany 
Mountains  on  the  east  and  the  Rocky  Mountains  on  the 
west,  is  throughout  an  immense  "rolling  prairie,"  with 
ridgy  heights  and  hills  of  the  most  fertile  soil,  richly  wa- 
tered by  rivers  and  lakes.  This  meadow-land,  occupying 
a  high  level  in  the  north,  and  producing  northern  pines  and 
birches,  gradually  sinks  lower  and  lower  as  it  approaches 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  133 

the  south,  until  in  Louisiana  it  becomes  a  swampy  morass, 
where  the  alligator  paddles  in  the  mud,  but  where  also  the 
sugar-cane  and  the  palmetto  spring  up  in  the  warm  air, 
and  orange-groves  shed  their  perfume  around.  It  em- 
braces much  variety  in  soil,  climate,  and  production.  But 
I  will  hear  what  a  resident  in  this  great  valley,  and  one 
well  acquainted  with  it,  says  of 

"That  great  central  valley  of  the  continent  of  North 
America — a  valley  extending  through  twenty -one  degrees 
of  latitude  and  fifteen  degrees  of  longitude — a  valley  just 
beginning  to  smile  under  the  hand  of  cultivation,  and 
which  already  invites  to  its  large  bosom  those  masses  of 
people  who  are  pouring  out  from  the  overstocked  commu- 
nities of  the  Old  World,  and  which  promises  to  requite  the 
hand  of  cultivation  by  a  provision  for  yet  uncounted  mill- 
ions of  the  human  race. 

"  Nature  has  gifted  the  soil  in  a  remarkable  degree  with 
vegetable  and  mineral  wealth,  has  bestowed  upon  it  an 
exterior  suited  to  every  taste,  and  to  the  requirements  of 
all,  and  has  intersected  it  with  rivers  which  are  available 
to  every  species  of  industry,  and  for*  unlimited  commercial 
transactions,  embracing  every  production  of  the  temperate 
zone  within  its  northern  and  southern  boundaries. 

"This  vast  meadow,  this  rich  and  fertile  valley,  lying 
between  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi  on  the  north  and 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico  in  the  south,  the  Rocky  Mountains  on 
the  west,  and  the  Alleghany  chain  on  the  east,  although 
but  a  short  time  since  a  wilderness,  embraces  already  elev- 
en entire  states,  portions  of  two  others,  as  well  as  two 
territories ;  it  is  full  of  the  active  spirit  of  labor,  and  is 
capable  of  sustaining  half  the  population  of  the  United 
States.  Embracing  within  its  limits  1,200,000  square 
miles,  or  768,000,000  of  acres,  its  importance  and  its 
power  can  as  little  be  estimated  as  that  of  the  Union  itself. 
Its  influence  must  become  coextensive  with  that  of  the 
habitable  globe,  the  garden  and  corn-magazine  of  which 


134  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

it  will  become ;  it  must  extend  its  dominion  beyond  that 
of  the  United  States,  and  become  the  kernel  of  its  empire, 
the  source  of  its  vital  power,  the  diadem  of  its  pride,  the 
basis  of  the  pyramid  of  its  greatness.  The  Creator  of  the 
world  has  nowhere  on  the  face  of  the  earth  diffused  more 
affluent  elements  of  human  prosperity,  nor  more  visibly 
made  a  beautiful  and  suitable  provision  for  the  require- 
ments of  humanity.  Visit  it  not  with  the  curse  of  a  fee- 
ble government;  do  not  throw  impediments  in  the  way  of 
its  improvement ;  keep  not  back  the  tide  of  emigration 
which  is  pouring  into  its  bosom ;  let  its  broad  arms  re- 
ceive the  over-population  which  oppresses  the  fields  of 
Europe,  and  the  All-good  Griver  of  every  good  gift  will 
smile  from  his  heaven  upon  a  happy  family  of  more  than 
275,000,000  of  human  beings." 

If  you  should  be  tempted  to  smile  at  this  specimen  of 
the  great  views  of  the  Great  West  as  regards  this  great 
Mississippi  Valley  and  its  great  future,  still  you  will  not 
fail  to  recognize  in  all  a  great  mind — a  great  heart ;  and 
for  the  rest,  that  here  the  subject  is  not  exactly  a — small 
thing. 

Mr.  Allen,  the  senator  of  Missouri,  from  whose  writings 
on  the  Trade  and  Navigation  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  in 
the  year  1850  I  have  extracted  the  above,  proceeds  to  give 
the  statistics  of  the  various  Mississippi  States,  and  the 
trade  and  increase  of  their  cities,  a  perfectly  practical  and 
statistical  treatise,  but  which  produces  a  certain  poetical 
impression,  not  only  by  the  wealth  of  the  products  which 
he  enumerates,  but  also  by  the  almost  fairy-tale-like  in- 
crease of  cultivation  and  population  of  cities,  and  traffic 
on  the  rivers,  by  the  wealth  of  the  whole  of  this  region. 

The  senator  sent  to  Congress  by  Missouri,  Colonel  Ben- 
ton, as  well  as  Mr.  Allen,  who  is  eminently  a  practical 
man,  becomes  a  poet  when  he  glances  at  this  subject,  and 
exclaims,  "  The  river  navigation  in  the  Great  West  is  the 
most  wonderful  in  the  world,  and  possesses,  by  means  of 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  135 

steam,  all  the  properties  of  ocean  navigation  —  rapidity, 
immense  distance,  low  prices,  and  large  freightage,  all  is 
there.  The  steam-boat  is  the  ship  of  the  river,  and  finds 
on  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries  the  most  perfect 
theatre  for  its  application  and  its  powers.  "Wonderful 
river!  United  to  vast  seas  at  its  source  and  at  its  mouth 
—  extending  its  arms  toward  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific 
Oceans  —  flowing  through  a  stretch  of  valley  which  ex- 
tends from  the  Mexican  Grulf  to  Hudson's  Bay,  deriving 
its  earliest  waters,  not  from  sterile  mountains,  but  from  a 
plateau  of  lakes  in  the  centre  of  the  continent,  and  in  con- 
nection with  the  sources  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  those 
rivers  which  take  their  course  northward  to  Hudson's  Bay, 
flowing  the  greater  part  of  its  way  through  the  richest 
meadow-land,  conveying  on  its  bosom  the  productions  of 
every  climate,  even  ice  from  the  frigid  zone,  which  it  trans- 
ports to  the  great  market  of  the  sunny  South.  Hither  are 
brought  the  product  of  the  whole  world.  Such  is  the 
Mississippi !  And  who  can  calculate  the  total  of  its  ad- 
vantages, and  the  greatness  of  its  future  commercial  en- 
gagements !"     But  enough  of  Mississippi  eloquence. 

And  now  I  must  tell  you  of  the  growth  and  progress  of 
the  Great  West,  as  they  have  appeared  to  me.  This 
growth  is  principally  material  as  yet,  but  the  spiritual 
growth  follows  in  its  footsteps.  Wherever  Americans  es- 
tablish themselves,  the  first  buildings  that  they  erect,  aft- 
er their  dwelling-houses  and  places  of  business,  are  schools 
and  churches ;  then  follow  hotels  and  asylums.  The 
West  repeats  the  cities,  the  institutions,  and  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  East,  and  their  course  is  rapid  and  safe.  First 
you  see  in  the  wilderness  some  log-houses,  then  neat 
frame  and  small  stone  houses,  then  elegant  villas  and 
cottages ;  and  before  many  years  are  over,  there  stands,  as 
if  by  magic,  a  town  with  its  Capitol  or  State  House,  its 
handsome  churches,  splendid  hotels,  academies,  and  in- 
stitutions of  all  kinds  ;  and  lectures  are  delivered,  large 


136  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

newspapers  printed,  government-men  are  elected,  public 
meetings  are  convened,  and  resolutions  passed  on  the  sub- 
ject of  popular  education  or  intercourse  with  the  whole 
world  ;  their  rail-roads  are  made,  canals  dug,  ships  built, 
rivers  are  traversed,  forests  are  penetrated,  mountains  are 
leveled,  and,  amid  all  this,  husbands  build  beautiful  homes 
for  their  wives,  plant  trees  and  flowers  around  them,  and 
woman  rules  as  a  monarch  in  the  sacred  world  of  home 
— thus  does  the  country  increase,  thus  is  society  arranged, 
and  thus  is  a  state  prepared  to  take  its  place  as  an  inde- 
pendent member  of  the  great  family-group  of  states.  And 
although  two  thirds  of  the  population  of  the  Mississippi 
•Valley  consists  of  Scandinavians,  Germans,  Irish,  and 
French,  yet  there  too  is  the  legislative  and  the  formative 
spirit  of  the  Anglo-Norman. 

In  certain  respects,  the  character  of  the  Western  States 
is  different  from  that  of  the  Eastern.  It  has  more  breadth 
and  cosmopolitanism  ;  its  people  are  a  people  of  many  na- 
tions, and  it  is  asserted  that  this  character  betrays  itself 
in  a  more  liberal  form  of  state  government,  as  well  as 
more  unprejudiced  views,  and  an  easier  mode  of  social 
life.  The  various  religious  sects  become  more  and  more 
amalgamated  ;  the  clergy  prophesy  the  advent  of  a  Mil- 
lennian  Church,  which  shall  gather  all  sects  into  its  em- 
brace ;  and  maintain  the  necessity  of  secular  education, 
of  science,  and  of  polite  literature,  for  the  full  develop- 
ment of  the  religious  life. 

The  cities  of  the  West  are  all  of  them  pre-eminently 
cosmopolitan  cities.  The  Germans  have  their  quarters 
there — sometimes  half  the  city,  their  newspapers,  and 
their  clubs  ;  the  Irish  have  theirs  ;  and  the  French  theirs. 
The  Mississippi  River  is  the  great  cosmopolitan  which 
unites  all  people,  which  gives  a  definite  purpose  to  their 
activity,  and  determines  their  abode,  and  which  enables 
the  life  of  every  one,  the  inhabitants  themselves  and  their 
products,  to  circulate  from  the  one  end  to  the  other  of  this 
great  central  valley. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  137 

But  here  ends  my  admiration  and  my  oration  about 
greatness  and  growth,  for  the  cities  of  the  West  appear  to 
me  in  no  respect  larger  or  better  than  those  of  the  East. 
St.  Louis  is  only  another  New  York  placed  on  the  western 
bank  of  the  Mississippi ;  and  San  Francisco,  on  the  shores 
of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  is  merely  a  third  repetition  of  the 
first  city.  The  western  state  which  glances  forth  beau- 
tifully in  "Wisconsin,  sinks  again  in  Missouri  and  Arkan- 
sas. The  western  portion  of  the  American  continent  is 
no  better  than  the  eastern.     Wilr  it  ever  become  so  ? 

Will  there  be  any  thing  different  in  development,  in 
character — will  it  become  higher  and  nobler,  and  more, 
will  it  approach  somewhat  nearer  to  perfection  ?  That 
kingdom  of  the  Millennium  where  the  lion  shall  lie  down 
with  the  lamb ;  where  every  man  shall  sit  in  the  shadow 
of  his  own  vine  and  fig-tree ;  where  all  people  shall  meet 
together  in  peace,  and  heaven  shall  smile  over  a  happy 
family  of  275,000,000  of  human  beings?  is  that  king- 
dom of  peace,  and  love,  and  prosperity  to  have  its  place 
here? 

Ah!  it  has  been  very  painful  to  me  to  give  up  that 
beautiful  dream  which  gladdened  me  as  I  traveled  west- 
ward, and  saw  the  golden  sun  advance  before  me  onward 
into  that  promised  land  of  the  West,  into  whose  realms  I 
seemed  to  be  journeying.  I  no  longer  have  any  faith  in 
it.     It  is  gone! 

The  western  land  of  the  New  World  will  not  produce 
any  thing  essentially  different  from  the  eastern.  The  New 
Paradise  is  nowhere  to  be  met  with  on  earth.  It  will 
probably  never  be  obtained  in  this  world,  and  upon  this 
earth  ! 

There  will,  however,  be  no  deficiency  of  enlightenment 
among  the  people  of  North  America.  But  it  will  be  mere- 
ly obtained  through  the  diffusion  of  general  popular  edu- 
cation, that  great  diffusion  among  all  classes  of  cheap 
newspapers,  in  which  all  subjects  are  discussed,  and  which 


138  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

bring  every  vital  question  of  life  fully  investigated,  and 
all  human  thoughts,  to  the  mind  of  every  man.  Life  it- 
self in  this  country,  with  its  States'  institutions,  consti- 
tutes a  great  public  educational  establishment,  demand- 
ing light  and  knowledge,  and  in  the  combat  between  light 
and  darkness,  between  God  and  Mammon,  which  is  going 
forward  here,  as  well  as  in  the  great  world's  battle,  the 
combat  becomes  more  profound  and  more  inward  than  it 
ever  has  been  before  on  the  earth;  it  concentrates  itself 
more  than  ever  upon  the  innermost  ground  of  the  will  and 
the  conscience,  for  no  one  can  here  henceforth  excuse  him- 
self by  saying 

" I  did  not  know!" 

Hence  it  becomes  to  me  more  and  more  evident  that 
that  which  we  have  to  expect  from  this  world's  cultiva- 
tion is  not  a  Utopia,  but — a  judgment-day ;  that  is  to  say, 
a  more  determined  separation  between  the  children  of 
light  and  the  children  of  darkness,  between  good  and  evil 
— a  more  rapid  approach  toward  the  last  crisis. 

The  new  man  of  the  New  World  stands  amid  upon  the 
line  of  separation  between  the  powers  of  this  world,  but 
upon  a  higher  platform,  and  with  increased  knowledge, 
and  with  a  clearer  consciousness  he  is  again  called  upon 
to  choose  between  them. 

The  whirl  of  life  rolls  with  accelerated  speed;  all  the 
powers  of  nature  and  of  matter  are  made  subservient  to  a 
mighty  will.  The  roads  to  hell,  as  well  as  those  to  heav- 
en, are  now  traveled  with  the  speed  of  the  rail-road  and 
steam.  The  business  of  earthly  life  is  hastening  on  to  its 
close,  and  I  seem  to  hear  those  prophetic  words  on  the  last 
page  of  the  Book  of  Life, 

"The  time  is  at  hand. 

M  He  who  is  unjust,  let  him  be  unjust  still;  and  he  that 
is  filthy,  let  him  be  filthy  still;  and  he  that  is  righteous, 
let  him  be  righteous  still ;  and  he  that  is  holy,  let  him  be 
holy  still. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  139 

"And  behold,  I  come  quickly;  and  my  reward  is  with 
me,  to  give  every  man  according  as  his  work  shall  be." 

What  can  give  preponderance  to  the  scale  of  the  good, 
and  double  the  number  of  the  righteous  and  the  holy  ? 

In  the  salutation  of  that  New  Year  which  the  hosts  of 
heaven  conveyed  to  earth,  upon  that  great  New  Year's 
day  from  which  the  earth  dates  her  centuries — it  was 
sung, 

"Grood-will  to  man!" 

What  is  it  that  can  give  force  to  this  good-wili  to  man  ? 

The  statesman  of  America  has  answered, 

"The  Constitution  of  the  State;  free  political  institu- 
tions." 

But  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  has  received 
slavery  as  a  "domestic  institution,"  and  defends  it  on  the 
ground  of  the  right  of  these  free  states. 

The  learned  men  and  the  teachers  of  America  have  re- 
plied, 

"  Schools,  and  the  education  of  the  people  in  these 
schools." 

But  the  popular  education  of  schools  speaks  merely  to 
the  understanding,  and  can  not  do  otherwise. 

Both  constitution  and  sohools  are  alike  perfect  in  their 
insufficiency. 

They  can  not  give  new  life  to  this  good- will.  They 
can  not  bring  the  kingdom  of  Grod  into  the  innermost  life 
of  every  human  being. 

The  power  to  do  this  lies  in  an  institution  anterior  on 
earth,  and  in  human  life,  to  constitutions  or  to  schools. 

Behold  there  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  amid  that  open 
field,  or  on  that  green  hill,  a  small  human  habitation. 
It  is  neither  large  nor  splendid,  but  its  style  of  architect- 
ure is  ornamental ;  it  speaks  of  taste  and  convenience  ;  a 
veranda  or  piazza  formed  of  lovely  trellis- work,  up  which 
clamber  vines  and  the  fragrant  clematis,  roses  and  honey- 
suckle, surround  the  house ;   beautiful  trees,  tjie  natives 


140  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

of  all  zones,  are  planted  around  ;  you  see  the  maple,  the 
elm,  and  the  linden-tree,  the  oak  and  the  chestnut,  the 
walnut  and  the  rohinia,  the  alanthus  and  the  sycamore, 
the  cedar  and  the  magnolia,  the  cypress  and  the  myrtle, 
and  a  great  number  of  beautiful,  odoriferous  flowers : 
these  are  so  grouped  around  the  house  as  to  give  it  a 
sheltered  appearance,  without  impeding  the  views,  which 
are  always  kept  open  to  allow  the  inhabitants  to  behold  a 
beautiful  or  extensive  landscape. 

You  see  the  home  of  North  America — the  home,  with 
its  characteristic  features,  as  it  is  found  in  all  the  states, 
as  well  on  the  heights  of  Massachusetts  and  Minnesota, 
as  in  the  fragrant  forest-meadows  of  South  Carolina,  and 
on  the  prairie-land  of  the  Far  West.  And  that  home  fre- 
quently deserved  the  appellation  which  the  home  obtain- 
ed in  our  old  North,  the  appellation  of  a  sacred  room. 
The  fire  of  the  domestic  hearth  burns  in  no  country 
brighter,  or  is  tended  by  purer  hands  than  in  the  home 
of  the  United  States.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  me  to  be  able 
to  say  this  with  knowledge  and  conviction.  Nor  have  I 
in  any  country  seen  the  home  so  generally  beautiful  in 
its  exterior,  so  guarded  as  the  apple  of  the  human  eye. 
Neither  have  I  ever  seen  people  who  know  better  how  to 
follow  the  hint  which  the  Creator  gave,  when  he,  having 
created  Adam,  placed  him,  not  in  a  city,  but  in  a  garden. 
Even  the  American  cities  seem  to  have  uneasy  con- 
sciences when  they  begin  to  cluster  themselves  into  close- 
ly-built masses  of  houses,  and  one  might  say  that  the 
houses  there  hastened  to  get  apart  from  each  other,  and 
though  they  stand  in  rows  forming  streets  and  markets, 
they  soon  make  open  spaces,  and  surround  themselves 
with  a  green-sward,  and  trees,  and  flowers.  And  the 
larger  this  verdant,  shady,  flowery  plot,  the  more  cheer- 
ful seems  the  American  home.  This  is  what  it  enjoys, 
but  it  likes  to  enjoy  it  in  company,  and  wishes  others  to 
be  as  well  off  as  itself.     Order,  comfort,  embellishment, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  !4X 

and  an  actual  luxury  of  trees  and  flowers,  distinguish  the 
home  of  the  New  World.  And  this  home  is  the  earnest 
world  of  the  child,  of  the  new  man. 

It  is  to  the  home,  it  is  to  the  heart  of  the  home,  to  the 
guardian  of  the  sacred  fire  upon  its  hearth,  that  I  look 
for  the  entrance  of  the  new  man  upon  the  theatre  of  the 
world,  for  the  obtaining  of  the  victory  in  the  combat 
which  is  going  on  between  the  two  powers  of  the  world. 
The  important  thing  is  to  obtain  many  and  brave  cham- 
pions for  the  good  cause ;  to  win  the  heart,  and  to  give 
the  will  a  right  and  strong  bias  toward  the  good,  that  is 
the  chief  thing. 

I  have  set  my  hope  upon  the  weak,  upon  them  who  in 
their  weakness  are  strong.  I  am  certain  that  it  depends 
upon  them.  And  if  they  hesitate,  or  if  they  are  not  equal 
to  the  greatness  of  their  vocation,  then  all  is  lost ;  for  nev- 
er was  their  influence  of  so  much  importance  as  in  this 
land  of  free-will.  See  what  Horace  Mann  says  of  the 
power  of  this  influence  on  the  unlimited  development  of 
the  United  States. 

Can  the  home,  can  the  American  mother  give  the  life, 
the  power  which  is  required  ? 

I  must  answer  the  question  with  No,  they  can  not  do 
so  in  their  present  state  of  cultivation.  And  whatever 
value  we  may  give  to  exceptional  cases,  still  it  is  certain 
that  the  Home  in  the  New  World,  as  well  as  in  the  Old, 
has  not  yet  come  up  to  its  requirements,  and  that  woman 
still  stands  as  hitherto  almost  isolated  in  the  home  and  in 
social  life,  with  no  place  in  the  life  of  fellow-citizenship, 
without  any  higher  consciousness  of  the  connection  which 
exists  between  this  and  the  life  of  home,  or  of  the  con- 
nection between  moral  and  religious  (or  the  higher  po- 
litical) questions,  and  social  questions  and  political  life; 
without  consciousness  of  her  own  vocation,  of  her  respons- 
ibility as  a  citizen  of  the  great  Christian  Commonwealth. 
How,  then,  can  she  educate  citizens;  how  can  she  kindle 


142  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

in  the  heart  of  the  child  a  sacred  zeal  for  the  well-being 
of  the  native  land ;  how  so  enlighten  it  that  it  may  bring 
into  exercise  the  same  conscientious  integrity,  the  same 
lofty  piety  for  the  conduct,  worldly  business,  and  political 
questions,  as  within  the  sacred  world  of  home? 

The  women  of  the  community  of  Quakers  are  the  only 
women  who  are  more  generally  alive  to  the  consciousness 
of  citizenship ;  but  they  are  merely  a  small  number. 

How  the  great  mass  may  ascend,  and  by  that  means 
enlighten  the  whole  rising  generation ;  how  the  home  may 
become  the  greatest  and  the  most  beautiful  school  of  soci- 
ety— life's  high-school;  of  all  this  I  have  my  own  thoughts, 
but  I  shall  not  now  give  them  utterance. 

It  is  a  joy  to  me  to  hear  and  to  see  that  a  presentiment 
of  this  is  beginning  to  find  its  way  into  the  universal 
mind  of  this  country,  both  among  men  and  women ;  and 
I  expect  that  this  higher  development  will  be  accomplished 
on  American  soil;  and  I  will  now  conclude  this  subject 
with  the  words  of  an  American  author:  "The  darkness 
of  the  mothers  casts  its  shadow  over  their  children ;  and 
cloud  and  darkness  must  rest  upon  their  descendants  un- 
til their  day  begins  to  dawn  over  the  hills." 

And  now  let  me  speak  of  the  American  people.  The 
traveler  who  finds  in  the  United  States  a  great  uniform- 
ity and  resemblance  among  the  people  there,  has  looked 
merely  on  the  exterior.  There  is  really  a  great,  a  too 
great  uniformity  in  speech,  manners,  and  dress  (for  a  lit- 
tle costume,  delicately  expressive  of  individuality,  belongs 
to  a  fully  developed  character) ;  one  travels  from  one  end 
of  the  Union  to  the  other,  and  hears  the  same  questions 
about  Jenny  Lind ;  the  same  phraseology  at  the  commence- 
ment of  conversation;  the  same  "last  thoughts  of  Weber" 
on  the  piano.  After  this,  however,  an  attentive  observer 
soon  remarks  that  there  is  no  lack  of  character  and  indi- 
viduality; and  I  have  nowhere  felt,  as  here,  the  distance 
between  one  human  being  and  another,  nor  have  seen  any 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  143 

where  so  great  a  difference  between  man  and  man,  whol- 
ly irrespective  of  caste,  rank,  uniform,  outward  circum- 
stances. Here  is  the  Transcendentalist,  who  treads  the 
earth  as  though  he  were  a  god,  who  calls  upon  men  to  be- 
come gods,  and  from  the  beauty  of  his  demeanor  and  his 
character,  we  are  induced  to  think  more  highly  of  human 
nature ;  and  here  is  the  Clay-eater,  who  lives  in  the  for- 
est, without  school  or  church,  sometimes  without  a  home, 
and  who,  impelled  by  a  morbid  appetite,  eats  clay  until, 
demoniacally  dragged  downward  by  its  oppressive  power, 
he  finds  in  it  his  grave;  here  is  the  Spiritualist,  who  lives 
on  bread,  and  water,  and  fruit — who  is  nourished  by  the 
light,  that  he  may  preserve  himself  pure  from  the  taint 
of  any  thing  earthly — and  who,  not  finding  Christianity 
pure  enough  for  his  diluted  moral  atmosphere,  adopts  that 
noble  socialism  which  exists  merely  to  communicate  ben- 
efits and  blessings;  and  beside  him  is  the  worshiper  of 
Mammon,  who  tramples  every  thing  spiritual  under  his 
feet,  and  who  acknowledges  nothing  holy,  nothing  which 
he  can  not  and  will  not  sacrifice  to  his  idol — self.  Every 
contrast  of  temperament,  character,  disposition,  endeavor, 
wrhich  can  be  imagined  to  exist  in  human  nature,  may 
here  be  met  with,  and  may  here  express  itself  with  a  more 
decided  spiritual  life. 

I  have  frequently  in  the  New  World,  and  that  in  very 
various  classes  of  society,  heard  it  remarked  of  people 
that  they  belonged  to  "the  best  men"  or  "  the  best  wom- 
en ;"  and  it  has  struck  me  how  well  people  in  general 
seem  to  understand  the  phrase,  and  how  much  they  are 
agreed  upon  it.  I  have  found  also  that  these  best  men 
and  women  are  commonly  distinguished  by  intelligence, 
kindness,  and  active  human-love  ;  and  I  do  not  believe 
that  so  much  is  done  in  any  country  by  private  individuals 
for  the  public  as  in  this,  in  particular  in  the  free  states. 
The  feeling  for  the  public  weal,  for  the  improvement  of 
the  country  and  the  people  at  large,  for  the  elevation  of 


144  HOMES  OF"  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

humanity,  can  scarcely  be  more  living  and  active  any 
where  than  it  is  here.  The  people  of  the  United  States 
have  a  warm  heart,  and  that  which  gives  this  people  their 
eternal  prerogative  of  progress  is  their  imitation  of  Christ 
— I  say  the  people  of  the  United  States,  and  I  maintain  the 
assertion.  Remove  slavery  from  its  Southern  States  (and 
it  will  be  removed  one  of  these  days  ;  already  it  is  under- 
mined by  Christianity  and  by  emigration  from  the  North), 
and  you  will  find  there  the  same  heart  and  the  same  spirit. 

The  right  of  the  people  of  North  America  to  be  consid- 
ered as  one  people,  and  as  a  peculiar  people  among  the 
nations  of  the  earth,  is  founded  upon  the  character  of  its 
first  emigrant  colonies,  they  who  were  peculiarly  the 
creators  of  the  society  of  the  New  World,  and  who  infused 
their  spirit  into  it.  They  were  in  part  heroes  of  the  faith, 
as  Puritans,  Huguenots,  and  Hernhutters,  in  part  warm- 
hearted souls,  such  as  Fox,  Penn,  Oglethorpe,  who  had 
found  their  places  in  the  Old  World  too  circumscribed  for 
them,  and  who  passed  over  to  the  New  World,  there  to 
establish  their  fraternal  associations,  and  to  create  a  more 
beautiful  humanity.  The  first  settlers  of  America  belong- 
ed to  the  strongest  and  the  best  portions  of  the  European 
population. 

I  will  now  tell  you  something  about  those  best  men 
and  women  of  America  with  whom  I  have  become  ac- 
quainted during  my  pilgrimage  through  the  land  ;  about 
those  men  so  simple,  so  gentle,  but  yet  so  strong  without 
any  pretension,  so  manly  in  their  activity  as  citizens, 
husbands,  fathers,  friends ;  of  those  women,  so  kind,  so 
motherly,  so  gentle  in  manner,  so  steadfast  in  principle, 
resting  in  the  truth  like  flowers  in  the  suyshine  ;  of  those 
homes,  those  happy,  beautiful  homes,  in  which  I  have  been 
a  happy  guest  for  days,  and  weeks,  and  months ;  for  my 
life  in  America  has  been,  and  is,  a  journey  of  familiar 
visits  to  homes  which  have  opened  themselves  to  me  in 
every  state  throughout  America,  and  where  I  have  lived, 


HOMES  OF   THE  NEW  WORLD.  j  45 

not  as  a  stranger,  but  as  a  sister  with  brothers  and  sisters, 
conversing  openly  with  them  on  all  subjects,  as  people 
may  converse  in  heaven.  I  there  met  with  more  than  I 
have  words  to  tell,  of  true  Christian  life,  of  the  love  of 
truth,  of  kindness,  of  minds  earnest  for  and  receptive  of 
every  thing  which  is  great  and  good  in  humanity;  while 
my  acquaintance  with  some  beautiful,  peculiar  characters 
will  serve  as  a  guide  to  my  soul  forever.  Nor  have  I 
any  where  met  with  more  hospitality,  or  with  a  more 
abounding  cordiality.  And  if  I  were  to  seek  for  one  ex- 
pression which  would  portray  the  peculiar  character  of 
the  people  of  the  New  World,  I  could  not  find  any  other 
than  that  of  beautiful  human  beings. 

When  I  imagine  to  myself  a  Millennium  in  the  valley 
of  the  Mississippi,  a  resting-point  in  the  history  of  the 
earth,  where  Satan  is  bound,  and  love,  beauty,  and  joy, 
and  the  fullness  of  love,  becomes  the  portion  of  all,  I  then 
behold  there  men  and  women,  such  as  my  friends  ;  homes 
such  as  their  homes,  and  see  these  mighty  rivers  bearing 
from  these  flowery  prairies,  with  their  ocean-like  views, 
and  from  these  golden  fields  of  maize,  all  the  treasures  of 
earth  to  all  mankind,  and  mild,  fresh  winds  blow  over  it, 
and  the  clear  sun  shines.  Such  were  the  glorious  home 
of  the  Hesperides ! 

It  is  not  at  all  difficult  to  predict  that  the  valley  of  the 
Mississippi,  in  consequence  of  the  variety  of  nations  by 
which  it  is  populated,  and  from  the  variety  in  its  scenery 
and  climate,  will  at  a  future  time  produce  a  popular  life 
of  a  totally  new  kind,  with  infinite  varieties  of  life  and 
temperament,  a  wholly  new  aspect  of  human  society  on 
earth.  But  what  appearance  will  the  apex  of  the  pyramid 
present,  the  basis  of  which  is  now  being  formed  ?  One 
thing  appears  to  me  certain  :  the  inhabitants  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi Valley  must  become  citizens  of  the  world — the 
universal  mankind,  par  excellence. 

Let  me  attempt  to  delineate  some  features  of  that  com- 

Voi..  II.—  Cr 


146  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

mon  theatre  of  the  great  drama  of  which  the  performance 
has  now  commenced  (a  drama  which  embraces  a  thousand 
years  in  one  act),  and  the  dramatis  personse,  the  groups 
of  which  fill  the  stage ;  for  they  who  in  the  life  of  the 
United  States  have  seen  merely  uniformity  or  confusion, 
have  not  looked  into  it,  or  have  seen  it  merely  with  a  dull 
vision.  Nothing  strikes  me  so  much  in  this  world's  and 
states'  formation  as  its  broad  dramatic  character. 

First  behold  its  theatre !  You  see  two  immense  stretches 
of  valley  between  three  chains  of  mountains,  running  from 
the  snowy  North  to  the  glowing  South,  the  Alleghany,  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  and  Sierra  Nevada,  or  the  Snowy  Mount- 
ains, which  last  chain  is  continued  into  Central  America, 
and  into  the  Cordilleras  and  Andes  of  South  America ; 
east  and  west  of  these  the  land  descends  toward  the  two 
great  seas  of  the  world. 

The  country  lying  between  the  mountains  and  toward 
the  seas  is  every  where  remarkable  for  its  fertility,  and  is 
intersected  by  navigable  rivers  and  lakes.  No  country  is 
so  well  watered  as  North  America,  or  affords  more  avail- 
able opportunity  for  the  circulation  of  life ;  nor  does  any 
country  afford  such  free  access  to  the  beauties,  the  cli- 
mates, and  productions  of  every  zone. 

I  beheld  advancing  on  this  great  stage  various  distinct 
groups  of  states,  of  various  temperaments  and  conditions 
of  life,  united  by  community  of  customs,  language,  and 
states'  government,  as  well  as  by  outward  and  inward  vital 
circulation.  Here  are  the  States  of  New  England,  with 
their  Puritan  descendants,  legislating,  educating,  restless 
Yikings  and  heroes  of  peace.  The  natural  scenery  of  these 
states  reminds  me  of  our  Scandinavian  north.  Massachu- 
setts has  the  romantic  lakes  and  broken  landscape  of 
Sweden ;  New  Hampshire,  the  rocky  valley  and  White 
Mountains  of  Norway. 

New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  the  Empire  and  the 
Quaker  States,  with  its  milder  climate,  imitate  each  other 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  147 

in  wealth  of  population  and  in  beauties  of  nature.  Riv- 
ers and  valleys  become  wider ;  commercial  life  grows  like 
a  giant. 

Virginia  and  the  Carolinas,  as  well  as  Georgia  and  Flor- 
ida, in  the  South,  each  form  another  group  of  states,  peo- 
pled by  the  sons  of  the  Cavaliers,  with  their  planters  and 
slaves,  with  a  strong  conservative  life,  and  much  peculiar 
beauty,  but  devoid  of  higher  social  aspiration.  These 
Northern  and  Southern  States  lie  between  the  Alleghany 
Mountains,  which  are  contained  within  them,  and  the 
ocean  on  the  east.  On  the  other  side  of  the  mountains  you 
find  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Mississippi  States; 
to  the  north  the  young  and  vigorous  Northwestern  States, 
with  free  institutions,  and  an  increasing  population  of 
Germans  and  Scandinavians,  increasing  still  more  in  light 
and  the  life  of  freedom ;  to  the  south,  the  slave  states, 
with  two  large  cities,  and  in  these  a  showy  civilization, 
but  for  the  rest  much  wilderness  and  much  rudeness  still, 
which  all  their  cotton  and  all  their  sugar  is  not  able  to 
conceal.  West  of  the  Mississippi  still  is  continued  the 
distinction  between  the  Northern  and  Southern  States. 
The  labor  of  the  cultivator  has  here  just  commenced.  You 
meet  with  the  fires  and  the  wigwams  of  the  Indians  still 
around  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi  in  the  North ;  and 
along  the  Red  River  in  Arkansas  and  Louisiana,  morasses 
and  heathenism. 

Westward  of  these  Mississippi  States  is  Texas,  with  the 
Rio  Grande  or  Rio  Bravo  as  its  boundary  on  the  west, 
and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  on  the  south,  an  immense  terri- 
tory, upon  the  fertile  banks  of  whose  rivers  the  flood  of 
emigration  is  now  beginning  to  settle.  The  upper  portion 
of  Texas  elevates  itself  by  degrees  into  a  mountain  range, 
and  unites  itself  on  the  northeast  to  the  latest  conquest 
of  the  United  States^  New  Mexico,  which  has  beautiful 
terminal  valleys  on  the  east,  but  which  extends  itself 
westward  into  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  becomes  petri- 
fied in  their  arms. 


148  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Between  these  states  and  the  Mississippi  States  lies 
the  great  hunting-ground  of  the  Indians,  that  mystic 
Nebraska,  a  great  portion  of  which,  according  to  what  I 
have  heard,  is  a  monotonous  steppe-land,  which  extends 
northward  as  far  as  Canada.  The  wild  Missouri  whirls 
through  it  with  a  thousand  angular  windings  ;  there  are 
also  great  prairies  and  great  rivers,  herds  of  buffaloes,  and 
tribes  of  warlike  Indians.  In  one  portion  of  this  immense 
region,  between  Missouri  and  Texas,  has  sprung  up  a 
peaceful,  flourishing  Indian  community,  which  ought  at 
some  future  time  to  be  admitted  into  the  Great  Union  as 
an  independent  Christian  Indian  State.  This  would  be  a 
more  beautiful  conquest  for  the  people  of  North  America 
than  their  acquisition  of  New  Mexico  ! 

"We  have  now  reached  the  Rocky  Mountains,  an  irreg- 
ular, bold  rock-formation,  more  remarkable  for  their  fan- 
tastic shapes  and  masses  than  for  their  height.  West- 
ward of  these  extend  the  so-called  Pacific  States,  Oregon, 
as  yet  merely  an  immense  territory ;  and  California,  in 
the  highest  boundaries  of  which,  or  the  Upper  California, 
the  Mormon  State,  Deseret  or  Utah,  flourishes  upon  the 
fertile  banks  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake,  Christian  in  faith 
and  confession,  hierarchical  in  their  form  of  government, 
and  in  certain  respects  a  mystery  to  their  contemporaries. 

These  states,  lying  along  the  coast  of  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
and  broken  up  by  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains,  are  pos- 
sessed of  every  climate,  and  of  every  natural  production 
which  can  be  found  from  the  region  of  snow  to  the  heat 
of  the  tropics.  Oregon,  in  particular,  abounds  in  salmon 
and  forests;  California,  as  all  the  world  knows,  in  gold. 

And  now  we  are  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
and  here  let  us  rest  a  while,  for  I  confess  to  being  weary 
with  our  long  ramble.  The  North  Americans  will  not 
rest  till  they  have  possessed  themselves  of  the  Southern 
portion  of  their  hemisphere ;  already  have  they  reached 
Panama  with  their  rail-roads,  canals,  warehouses,  homes, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  149 

churches,  and  schools.  And  they  say  quite  calmly,  when 
speaking  of  the  country  between  Panama  and  the  Rio 
Grande,  that  is  to  say,  the  whole  of  Central  Mexico, 
"When  this  is  ours,  then,"  &c. 

I  shall  not  tell  you  any  thing  about  the  Constitution  of 
these  states,  nor  of  their  institutions  as  individual,  inde- 
pendent states,  nor  of  their  relation  to  one  Federal  gov- 
ernment. You  have  long  known,  much  better  than  I  can 
describe  it,  that  wonderful  states'  government,  which  af- 
fords such  a  boundless  field  and  so  strong  an  impulse  to 
free  competition  and  development,  not  merely  for  individ- 
uals, but  for  society  and  states.  This  constitutional  form 
of  government  seems  to  me,  more  than  any  thing  else,  to 
prove  that  the  destiny  of  a  people  is  preordained  by  the 
hand  of  Providence  before  they  themselves  comprehend  it. 
They  must  accomplish  his  plans,  and  the  question  as  re- 
gards them  is  merely  the  doing  it  well  or  ill. 

It  is  evident  that  the  founders  of  the  American  repub- 
lic, Washington  and  his  men,  did  not  take  a  philosophical 
review  of  the  work  which  they  had  accomplished  in  it; 
that  they  had  no  presentiment  of  the  future  of  which  they 
had  laid  the  foundation ;  they  followed  the  beckoning  hand 
of  necessity;  they  did  that  which  they  must  do;  but  they 
did  not  know  what  it  was  which  they  had  done ;  and  for 
a  long  time  the  states  grew  as  the  lilies  of  the  field  in 
(rod's  sunshine,  without  knowing  how  or  for  what  pur- 
pose ! 

It  was  not  until  long  afterward  that  a  portion  of  them 
awoke  to  a  consciousness  of  the  sublime  mission  which 
they  are  called  upon  to  perform — the  emancipation  of  hu- 
manity socially  and  politically.  * 

The  violent  movement  and  rotation  in  public  life,  the 
perpetual  appointment  of  officers  to  every  department  of 
government,  and  their  deposition  again  in  a  short  time,  at 
most  in  four  years,  has  made  all  Europe  shake  its  head; 
and  I  suppose  that  all  Asia  would,  if  it  could,  shrug  its 


150  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

shoulders  in  such  a  way  as  to  cause  the  wall  of  China  to 
quake.  And  it  is  not  without  reason  that  many  wise  men 
in  this  country  have  shook  their  heads  thoughtfully  at 
some  application  of  the  rotation  principle  which  has  oc- 
curred here  and  there:  thus,  for  example,  I  heard  serious 
complaints  made  in  the  young  Mississippi  States  of  the 
facility  with  which  a  right  to  vote  was  obtained  by  the 
emigrants  who  came  there,  even  though  they  may  he  from 
the  rudest  and  most  ignorant  population  of  Europe.  A 
year's  residence  in  a  state  gives  a  right  to  vote  at  the 
election  of  the  officers  of  the  state,  which  occurs  annual- 
ly ;  hence  the  election  of  low  and  truthless  agitators,  men 
every  way  unfit  for  their  office ;  and  the  difficulty  for  the 
best  men  to  get  into  the  government,  because  the  best 
men  scorn  to  avail  themselves  of  the  means  which  men 
of  low  principles  will  condescend  to  in  order  to  become 
the  popular  candidate,  or  to  maintain  themselves  in  a  post 
which  they  have  once  obtained. 

It  is,  however,  difficult  for  me  to  regard  this  otherwise 
than  as  a  transition-point  in  the  great  popular  education 
which  is  now  going  on ;  and  Wisconsin,  in  particular,  seems 
to  have  dearly  and  strongly  comprehended  the  right  mode 
of  meeting  the  danger,  and  by  means  of  large  and  excel- 
lent educational  institutions,  both  for  boys  and  girls,  to 
be  preparing  a  bright  future  for  the  state. 

I  was  traveling  in  the  Northwestern  Mississippi  States 
just  at  the  time  when  the  annual  election  of  state  offi- 
cers was  going  on.  These  elections,  and  the  scenes  to 
which  they  gave  rise,  struck  me  as  a  sort  of  political 
game  or  race ;  and  the  spirit  which  impels  these  gamblers 
and  wrestlers  on  this  scene  of  action  is  often  little  better 
than  that  of  the  ordinary  gambling  houses.  The  gam- 
bling and  rival  parties,  Whigs  and  Democrats,  are  very 
little  ashamed  of  puffing  their  candidate,  or  depreciating 
that  of  the  opposite  party.  Newspapers  are  full  of  abuse 
and  lies ;  outcries  of  treachery  and  of  danger  to  the  father- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  151 

land;  flags  are  displayed,  and  great  placards  are  posted 
in  the  streets  with  words  of  warning  or  exhortation, "  Be- 
ware of  the  Whigs!"  "  The  Democrats  are  Incendiaries!" 
"Vote  for  the  Whigs,  the  true  friends  of  our  country!" 
"Vote  for  the  Democrats,  the  preservers  of  popular  rights !" 
and  so  on.  The  nearer  the  day  of  election  approaches, 
the  stronger  becomes  the  agitation,  the  more  violent  the 
cry,  the  personal  abuse,  and  the  threats.  One  might  im- 
agine that  the  torch  of  discord  was  about  to  be  lighted  in 
every  city,  that  the  Union  was  at  the  point  of  being  torn  to 
shreds,  and  that  every  citizen  was  in  danger  of  being  at- 
tacked by  his  neighbor.  During  all  this  I  could  not  but 
think  of  two  men  whom  I  had  seen  on  the  banks  of  the 
Hudson,  each  enlisting  passengers  for  his  steam-boat,  and 
abusing  that  of  his  rival,  hurling  angry  words  and  threat- 
ening glances  at  each  other,  while  their  lips  often  seemed 
to  curl  into  a  smile  when  they  had  said  any  thing  mag- 
nificently bad  of  the  other.  I  remember  my  asking  Mr. 
Downing,  as  I  witnessed  this  scene,  what  was  the  mean- 
ing of  it?  and  he  replied  with  a  smile,  "It  means  noth- 
ing. Here  is  an  opposition  between  two  steamers,  and 
these  men  act  this  part  every  day." 

Much  of  the  great  political  agitation  here,  during  the 
time  of  the  elections,  has  much  the  same  meaning ;  the 
candidates  and  their  soldiers  fix  bayonets  in  their  glances 
and  their  words ;  the  ballot-box  is  put  in  motion ;  every 
thing  becomes  silent;  the  votes  are  thrown  in  amid  the 
utmost  order ;  a  pause  ensues  ;  the  ballot-box  is  emptied, 
the  votes  are  read  aloud  and  counted ;  the  election  is  de- 
clared. The  men  of  office  are  elected  for  one  year  or  for 
two  ;  the  governor  of  some  states  is  elected  for  four  years, 
as  is  the  case  with  the  President  of  the  United  States  ;  in 
others  merely  for  two,  in  others  again  foi»  one,  and  all  is 
at  an  end  ;  nobody  makes  any  objection,  but  all  go  quiet- 
ly to  their  own  homes,  ready  to  obey  the  new  magistracy, 
and  to  console  themselves,  as  Jacob  Faithful  did,  with 


152  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

"better  luck  another  time  !"  Rockets  ascend  in  the  quiet 
evening  in  honor  of  the  successful  candidate,  and  the  whole 
city  goes  to  bed  ajid  sleeps  soundly. 

It  has  occurred  to  me  that  this  electioneering  agitation, 
in  which  people  exercise  their  minds  and  their  oratorical 
powers — or,  at  all  events,  their  ability  to  talk  and  to  write, 
are  like  a  safety-valve  in  the  steam-boat,  by  which  means 
any  excess  of  steam  may  escape  to  fill  the  air  with  vapor ; 
there  is  not  a  doubt,  in  the  mean  time,  but  that  the  steam- 
power  wTithin  the  state's  machine  might  be  applied  to  a 
better  purpose  ;  and  it  is  difficult  for  me  to  believe  that 
the  people  of  the  United  States  will  not  henceforth  en- 
deavor to  obtain  a  little  more  stability  in  their  mode  of 
government,  will  not  give  their  rulers  a  longer  period,  in 
which  each  can  attend  to  his  own  business  more  thorough- 
ly, and  thus  afford  an  ampler  sphere  for  real  talent  and 
less  for  demagogues. 

But  even  as  it  is,  it  will  be  seen  that  no  talent  or  char- 
acter of  eminence  runs  any  risk  in  the  United  States  of 
not  finding  an  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  all  its  pow- 
ers. The  best  proof  of  this  is,  indeed,  the  number  of  dis- 
tinguished statesmen,  judges,  or  clergymen  who  year  aft- 
er year  continue  to  adorn  the  Senate  of  the  country,  the 
judges'  seat,  and  the  pulpit,  and  of  whom  the  people  are 
as  proud  as  monarchical  realms  of  their  kings  and  heroes. 
It  is  generally  mediocre,  or  talent  of  an  imperfect  kind, 
which  rushes  into  this  violent  rotation,  and  which  goes 
up  and  down  until  it  has  acquired  sufficient  strength  and 
completeness  to  remain  stable  at  some  one  point. 

There  is  one  principle  of  movement  in  the  United  States 
which  seems  to  me  like  a  creative,  or,  at  all  events,  a  pow- 
er of  organization :  this  is  the  movement  of  association. 
The  association,,  founded  already  in  the  Federal  govern- 
ment of  the  states — an  association  of  states,  governed  by 
a  general  principle  or  Constitution  —  exists  as  a  funda- 
mental feature  of  popular  life.  This  people  associate  as 
easily  as  they  breathe. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  153 

Whenever  any  subject  or  question  of  interest  arises  in 
society  which  demands  public  sympathy  or  co-operation, 
a  "  Convention"  is  immediately  called  to  take  it  into  con- 
sideration, and  immediately,  from  all  ends  of  the  city  or 
the  state,  or  from  every  state  in  the  Union,  all  who  feel 
an  interest  in  the  subject  or  question  fly  upon  the  wings 
of  steam  to  the  appointed  place  of  meeting  and  the  ap- 
pointed hour.  The  hotels  and  boarding-houses  of  the  city 
are  rapidly  filled ;  they  come  together  in  the  great  hall 
of  assembly,  they  shake  hands,  they  become  acquainted 
with  one  another,  they  make  speeches,  they  vote,  they 
carry  their  resolutions.  And  forth  upon  the  wings  of  a 
thousand  daily  papers  flies  that  which  the  meeting  or  the 
Convention  has  resolved.  These  resolutions  may  some- 
times also  be  merely  the  expression  of  opinion — as,  for 
example,  they  hold  "  Indignation  meetings"  on  occasions 
when  they  wish  to  express  their  strong  disapprobation 
either  of  public  men  or  of  public  transactions.  It  is  al- 
ways admirable  with  what  readiness,  with  what  savoir 
faire  this  people  advances  onward  in  self-government, 
and  how  determinedly  and  rapidly  it  proceeds  from  "pro- 
posed" to  "resolved."* 

In  the  populous  free  states,  the  meetings  of  the  mem- 
bers of  different  trades  and  professions,  as  well  as  of  agri- 
culture, belong  to  the  ordinary  occurrences  of  the  day. 
Thus  one  now  hears  of  Industrial  Congresses  in  New 
York  State,  where  the  trades -brethren  of  certain  kindred 

*  A  splendid  proof  of  the  savoir  faire  in  self-government  is  given  at 
this  moment  in  the  states'  organization  of  California.  During  a  couple 
of  years  have  the  wildest  adventurers  from  all  nations  of  the  earth  rush- 
ed thither  in  the  delirium  of  the  gold-fever.  But  the  best  of  the  people 
have  banded  together,  organized,  and  maintained  the  observance  of  law 
and  civil  order,  and  California,  rapidly  advanced  to  a  population  of  two 
hundred  thousand  souls,  now  takes  its  place  as  a  fully  competent  state 
in  the  great  circle  of  the  free  states  of  the  Union.  Even  the  Chinese, 
who  hastened  to  California  by  thousands,  settle  themselves  down  and 
live  in  peaceful  communion  under  the  powerful  hand  of  the  Anglo- 
American. 

G2 


154  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

occupations  meet  every  month ;  and  "  agricultural  fairs'* 
are  already  held  in  the  young  states  of  Michigan  and 
Illinois,  where  the  agriculturists  of  the  state  exhibit  the 
rich  products  of  the  country.  Cincinnati  as  well  as  New 
York,  and  the  great  trading  towns  which  lie  between  them, 
Pittsburg,  Harrisburg,  and  many  others,  have  their  me- 
chanical and  mercantile  associations,  their  meeting- 
houses, libraries,  assembly-rooms,  and  guilds  on  a  large 
scale.  And  these  kindred  associations  are  all  in  connec- 
tion with  each  other.  As,  for  instance,  an  artisan  who 
can  not  get  work  in  the  Eastern  States  is  passed  on  by 
means  of  these  associations  to  their  members  in  the 
Western  States,  where  there  is  abundance  of  work  for  all 
hands. 

Life  in  this  country  need  never  stand  still  or  stagnate. 
The  dangers  lie  in  another  direction.  But  this  free  asso- 
ciation is  evidently  an  organizing  and  conservative  prin- 
ciple of  life,  called  forth  to  give  law  and  centralization  to 
the  floating  atoms,  to  the  disintegrated  elements. 

Among  the  various  dramatic  assemblies  and  scenes  in 
which  human  nature  and  popular  life  exhibit  themselves 
on  the  soil  of  the  New  World,  I  may  mention  those  small 
communities  of  social  wits  who  aim  at  producing  a  regen- 
erated world  (but  who  are  all  in  a  dwindling  condition 
excepting  the  Shaker  community,  who  have  no  children), 
those  dancing  Shakers,  those  silent  Quaker  meetings, 
those  many-tongued  anti-slavery  meetings,  those  religious 
festivals,  camp-meetings  at  night  in  the  woods,  and 
scenes  of  baptism  by  the  rivers,  beautiful  and  affecting, 
especially  where  they  have  reference  to  the  children  of 
Africa.  At  the  Conventions  for  the  Rights  of  Women,  in 
which  women  as  well  as  men  stand  forth  and  speak  for 
the  civil  rights  of  woman,  I  have  not  as  yet  been  present, 
but  I  intend  to  embrace  the  first  opportunity  of  being  so. 
These  first  originated  in  Ohio,  but  are  just  now  being 
held  in  the  States  of  New  England — abused  and  calumni- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  155 

oted  by  many,  attended  and  supported  by  many  also. 
These  furnish  and  afford  a  striking  scene  in  the  great 
drama  which  is  now  being  performed  ;  for  all  that  lives 
fettered  in  Europe  is  brought  forward  in  America,  acquires 
form,  builds  a  church,  combines  in  union,  takes  a  name, 
speaks  out,  and  obtains  a  hearing,  a  time  of  trial,  an  ex- 
amination, and — judgment  is  passed,  that  is  to  say,  time 
and  opportunity  to  rise  or  to  fall,  according  to  its  measure 
and  its  power. 

Scenes  also  of  the  life  of  the  Indians  and  the  negroes  in 
this  country  belong  to  the  dramatic  and  picturesque  life 
of  America.  The  wild  dances  of  the  former  on  the  prai- 
ries of  the  West,  the  gentle  songs  of  the  latter  in  the  fra- 
grant forests,  belong  to  the  theatre  of  the  New  World. 

The  government  of  America  has  not  a  little  to  reproach 
herself  with  as  regards  her  treatment  of  the  Indians. 
Latterly,  however,  this  treatment  has  become  more  just 
and  mild.  The  land  is  purchased  from  the  Indians;  they 
are  subjected  by  gentle  means  and  by  money ;  prohibitions 
are  made  against  the  introduction  of  intoxicating  liquors 
among  them,  and  the  missionary  is  encouraged  in  his  la- 
bor of  introducing  Christianity  and  civilization.  But  this 
does  not  do  much.  The  red  men,  who  consider  them- 
selves the  most  successful  creation  of  the  Great  Spirit,  re- 
tire backward  into  the  desert  and  die.  Merely  a  small 
number  of  them  have  passed  over  to  the  faith,  the  man- 
ners, and  the  mode  of  government  of  the  whites. 

The  progress  of  Christianity  is  much  more  considerable 
among  the  negro  race.  The  doctrine  of  the  Savior  comes 
to  the  negro  slaves  as  their  most  inward  need,  and  as  the 
accomplishment  of  the  wishes  of  their  souls.  They  them- 
selves enunciate  it  with  the  purest  joy.  Their  ardent, 
sensitive  being  obtains  from  this  its  most  beautiful  trans- 
figuration. The  ability  of  these  people  for  prayer  is  some- 
thing peculiar,  and  quite  unusual.  Their  prayers  burst 
forth  into  flame  as  they  ascend  to  heaven.     The  children 


156  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

of  the  warm  sun  will  yet  teach  us  by  their  prayers  the 
might  of  prayer. 

During  the  conflict  which  is  going  forward  in  the  free 
states  for  the  abolition  of  slavery,  the  friends  of  the  slave 
have  divided  themselves  into  two  camps.  The  one  de- 
mands immediate  emancipation  and  their  general  educa- 
tion; the  other,  gradual  emancipation  and  the  coloniza- 
tion on  the  coast  of  Africa.  The  State  of  Ohio  has  adopt- 
ed this  latter  mode,  and  has  lately  made  an  important 
purchase  of  land  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  in  order  to  colo- 
nize there  an  African  Ohio  of  free  negroes. 

Not  a  little  is  done  in  the  free  states  for  the  instruction 
and  elevation  of  the  negroes ;  but  still  I  can  not  convince 
yself  that  the  Americans  are  doing  this  in  the  best  way. 
They  endeavor  to  form  this  human  race  so  different  to 
themselves,  according  to  their  own  methods  and  institu- 
tions. "When  I  see  those  frolicsome  negro  children  in  their 
school  sit  down  like  white  children  on  benches  and  before 
desks,  I  am  quite  distressed.  I  am  convinced  that  these 
children  ought  to  learn  their  lessons  standing,  or  dancing 
amid  games  and  songs,  and  that  their  divine  worship 
ought  to  be  conducted  with  singing  and  dancing;  and  I 
will  answer  for  it,  that  their  songs  and  dances  would  have 
more  life,  beauty,  and  intelligence  in  them  than  those  of 
the  Shaker  community.  But  who  shall  teach  them  thus  ? 
None  but  a  negro  can  teach  the  negroes,  and  only  one  of 
their  own  people  can  become  the  deliverer  of  the  people  in 
the  highest  sense.  But  this  captive  Israel  yet  waits  for 
its  Moses. 

That,  however,  which  very  much  prevents  the  redemp- 
tion of  this  people  from  captivity,  is  their  own  want  of 
national  spirit.  Already  split  into  tribes  in  Africa,  where 
they  were  at  war,  and  wThere  they  enslaved  one  another, 
it  is  difficult  to  take  hold  of  any  more  widely  extended 
interests  than  those  of  family  and  local  society.  I  have 
spoken  with  many  freemen  of  this  people  in  good  circum- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  157 

stances  here,  also  with  some  young  mulattoes  who  have 
studied  and  taken  degrees  at  the  Oberlin  Institution  in 
this  state,  and  Ihave  found  them  particularly  lukewarm 
toward  the  interests  of  their  captive  brethren,  and  espe- 
cially so  as  regards  colonization  in  Liberia.  Frederick 
Douglas  is  as  yet  the  only  strong  champion  among  them 
for  their  own  people. 

But  if  any  thing  can  awake  within  them  a  more  com- 
prehensive feeling  for  the  whole  people,  it  is  assuredly 
that  common  slavery  on  the  soil  of  America,  and  perhaps, 
more  than  any  thing  else  at  this  moment,  the  bill  which 
allows  the  recapture  of  fugitive  slaves.  I  awoke  to  this 
thought  to-day  during  a  visit  to  a  free  negro  church, 
where  I  had  no  occasion  to  lament  any  want  of  interest  in 
the  national  affairs,  either  in  the  negro  preacher  or  the 
congregation. 

I  had  in  the  forenoon  visited  a  negro  Baptist  Church 
belonging  to  the  Episcopal  creed.  There  were  but  few 
present,  and  they  of  the  negro  aristocracy  of  the  city. 
The  mode  of  conducting  the  divine  service  was  quiet,  very 
proper,  and  a  little  tedious.  The  hymns  were  beautiful- 
ly and  exquisitely  sung.  The  sermon,  which  treated  of 
"  Love  without  dissimulation  ;  how  hard  to  win,  how  im- 
possible without  the  influence  of  Grod  and  the  communi- 
cation of  his  power,"  was  excellent.  The  preacher  was  a 
fair  mulatto,  with  the  features  and  demeanor  of  the  white 
race,  a  man  of  very  good  intellect  and  conversational 
power,  with  whom  I  had  become  already  acquainted  in 
my  Cincinnati  home. 

In  the  afternoon  I  went  to  the  African  Methodist  Church 
in  Cincinnati,  which  is  situated  in  the  African  quarter. 
In  this  district  live  the  greater  number  of  the  free  colored 
people  of  the  city ;  and  the  quarter  bears  the  traces  there- 
of. The  streets  and  the  houses  have,  it  is  true,  the  Anglo- 
American  regularity ;  but  broken  windows  and  rags  hang- 
ing from  them,  a  certain  neglected,  disorderly  aspect,  both 


158  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

of  houses  and  streets,  testified  of  negro  management.  I 
found  in  the  African  Church  African  ardor  and  African 
life.  The  church  was  full  to  overflowing,  and  the  con- 
gregation sang  their  own  hymns.  The  singing  ascended 
and  poured  forth  like  a  melodious  torrent,  and  the  heads, 
feet,  and  elbows,  of  the  congregation  moved  all  in  unison 
with  it,  amid  evident  enchantment  and  delight  in  the 
singing,  which  was  in  itself  exquisitely  pure  and  full  of 
melodious  life. 

The  hymns  and  psalms  which  the  negroes  have  them- 
selves composed  have  a  peculiar  naive  character,  childlike, 
full  of  imagery  and  life.  Here  is  a  specimen  of  one  of 
their  popular  church  hymns  : 

"  What  ship  is  this  that's  landed  at  the  shore  1 
Oh,  glory  halleluiah ! 
It's  the  old  ship  of  Zion,  halleluiah, 
It's  the  old  ship  of  Zion,  halleluiah, 
Is  the  mast  all  sure,  and  the  timber  all  sound  1 
Oh,  glory  halleluiah ! 
She's  built  of  gospel  timber,  halleluiah, 
She's  built,  &c. 

"  What  kind  of  men  does  she  have  on  board  1 
Oh,  glory  halleluiah  ! 
They're  all  true-hearted  soldiers,  halleluiah, 
They're  all,  &c. 

"  What  kind  of  Captain  does  she  have  on  board  ? 
Oh,  glory  halleluiah ! 
King  Jesus  is  the  Captain,  halleluiah, 
King  Jesus,  &c. 

'  Do  you  think  she  will  be  able  to  land  us  on  the  shore  ? 
Oh,  glory  halleluiah  ! 
I  think  she  will  be  able,  halleluiah, 
I  think,  &c. 

"  She  has  landed  over  thousands,  and  can  land  as  many  more. 
Oh,  glory,  halleluiah  !"  &c,  &c. 

After  the  singing  of  the  hymns,  which  was  not  led  hy 
any  organ  or  musical  instrument  whatever,  but  which 
arose  like  burning  melodious  sighs  from  the  breasts  of  the 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  159 

congregation,  the  preacher  mounted  the  pulpit.  He  was 
a  very  black  negro,  young,  with  a  very  retreating  fore- 
head, and  the  lower  portion  of  the  countenance  protrud- 
ing ;  upon  the  whole,  not  at  all  good-looking.  But  when 
he  began  to  speak,  the  congregation  hung  upon  his  words, 
and  I  could  not  but  admire  his  flowing  eloquence.  He 
admonished  the  assembly  to  reflect  on  the  present  need  of 
their  brethren ;  to  pray  for  the  fugitive  slaves,  who  must 
now,  in  great  multitudes,  leave  their  acquired  homes,  and 
seek  a  shelter  out  of  the  country  against  legal  violence 
and  legal  injustice.  He  exhorted  them  also  to  pray  for 
that  nation  which,  in  its  blindness,  would  pass  such  laws 
and  oppress  the  innocent !  This  exhortation  was  received 
with  deep  groans  and  lamenting  cries. 

After  this  the  preacher  drew  a  picture  of  the  death  of 
"  Sister  Bryant,"  and  related  the  history  of  her  beautiful 
Christian  devotion,  and  applied  to  her  the  words  of  the 
Book  of  Revelation,  of  those  "who  come  out  of  great  af- 
flictions." The  intention  of  suffering  on  earth,  the  glo- 
rious group  of  the  children  of  suffering  in  their  release, 
and  thanksgiving-song  as  represented  in  so  divine  and 
grand  a  manner  in  the  pages  of  Scripture,  were  placed  by 
the  negro  preacher  in  the  light  as  of  noonday,  and  as  I 
had  never  before  heard  from  the  lips  of  any  ordinary  min- 
isters. After  this  the  preacher  nearly  lost  himself  in  the 
prayer  for  the  sorrowing  widower  and  his  children,  and 
their  "  little  blossoming  souls."  Then  came  the  sermon 
proper. 

The  preacher  proposed  to  the  congregation  the  question, 
"Is  God  with  us?"  "I  speak  of  our  nation,  my  breth- 
ren," .said  he ;  "I  regard  our  nationality.  Let  us  examine 
the  matter."  And  with  this  he  drew  a  very  ingenious 
parallel  between  the  captivity  of  the  Israelites  in  Egypt 
and  the  negroes  in  America,  and  those  trials  by  which 
Providence  evinced  His  especial  solicitude  about  the  cho- 
sen people.     After  having  represented  the  fate  of  the  Is- 


ICO  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

raelites  under  Pharaoh  and  Moses,  he  went  on  to  contem- 
plate the  fate  of  the  negro  people. 

"How  shall  we  know  that  God  is  with  us?  Let  us 
look  at  the  question  thus." 

He  then  boldly  sketched  out  a  picture  of  an  enslaved 
people  as  oppressed  in  every  way,  but  not  the  less  "  in- 
creasing in  numbers  ajid  improving  themselves,  purchas- 
ing their  own  freedom  from  slavery  (cries  of  '  Yes !  yes !' 
'  Oh,  glory  !'  throughout  the  church) ;  purchasing  land 
(shouts  of  joy)  ;  ever  more  and  more  land  (increasing 
shouts) ;  buying  houses,  large  houses,  larger  and  still  lar- 
ger houses  (increasing  jubilation  and  stamping  of  feet) ; 
building  churches  (still  louder  cries);  still  more  and  lar- 
ger churches  (louder  and  still  louder  cries,  movement, 
stamping  of  feet,  and  clapping  of  hands) ;  the  people  in- 
creasing still  in  number,  in  property,  in  prosperity,  and 
in  understanding,  so  that  the  rulers  of  the  land  began  to 
be  terrified,  and  to  say,  '  They  are  becoming  too  strong 
for  us;  let  us  send  them  over  to  Liberia!'  (Violent  fer- 
mentation and  excitement.)  This,  then,  will  show  us, 
my  brethren,  that  God  is  with  us.  Let  us  not  forsake 
Him ;  for  He  will  lead  us  out  of  captivity,  and  make  of 
us  a  great  people!"  (extreme  delight  and  joy,  with  the 
cry  of  'Amen!'  'Yes,  yes!'  'Oh,  glory!'  and  so  on).  The 
whole  congregation  was  for  several  minutes  like  a  stormy 
sea.  The  preacher's  address  had  been  a  rushing  tempest 
of  natural  eloquence.  I  doubt,  however,  whether  his  pa- 
triotism extended  much  beyond  the  moment  of  inspiration 
and  of  his  pulpit ;  he  was  not  a  new  Moses.  Old  Moses 
was  slow  of  speech ;  he  was  a  man  of  action. 

This  preacher  was,  however,  the  first  negro  from  whom 
I  had  heard  any  distinct  sentiment  of  nationality.  The 
bill  against  fugitive  slaves  must  mind  what  it  is  about, 
and  what  it  may  lead  to. 

With  regard  to  the  negro  preacher's  last  outbreak  against 
Liberia,  it  may  be  remarked,  that  the  negroes  of  Ohio  are 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  161 

in  general  opposed  to  colonization  in  Africa,  and  look  with 
suspicion  upon  the  endeavors  of  the  whites  in  this  direc- 
tion. Unfortunately,  the  climate  of  Liberia  is  said  to  be 
so  unhealthy  from  the  constant  rains  that  there  seems  to 
be  some  ground  for  the  suspicion.  It  is  a  real  misfortune 
for  the  youthful  colony,  which  otherwise  is  favored  by  the 
unbounded  fertility  of  the  country  around,  and  by  its  af- 
fluence in  valuable  tropical  growth.  The  colony  of  Li- 
beria, however,  increases,  although  not  rapidly,  in  popu- 
lation and  trade,  governed  by  rulers  of  its  own  election, 
and  with  churches,  school-houses,  printing-presses,  ware- 
houses, and  shops.     Three  cities  are  already  founded  there. 

Commodore  Perry,  in  his  account  of  the  condition  of 
the  American-African  colony,  describes  the  settlement  at 
Monrovia  as  especially  promising  for  trade,  and  that  at 
Cape  Palmas  for  agriculture.  For  the  rest,  he  describes 
the  negroes  of  the  colony  as  devoted  to  small  trade  rather 
than  to  agriculture.  And  this  seems  to  be  the  bias  of 
the  negroes  in  all  the  native  colonies  along  the  coast. 
"  Some  of  the  colonists,"  says  he,  "  have  become  wealthy 
through  this  small  trade,  while  others,  again,  obtain  mere- 
ly a  sufficient  maintenance." 

"  But,"  adds  the  commodore,  "  it  is  pleasant  to  see  the 
comforts  with  which  a  great  number  of  these  people  have 
surrounded  themselves ;  many  of  them  enjoy  conveniences 
of  life  which  were  unknown  to  the  first  settlers  in  North 
America.  Want  seems  not  to  exist  among  them.  If 
some  of  them  suffer,  it  must  be  in  consequence  of  their 
own  laziness. 

"  I  had  at  Cape  Palmas  an  opportunity  of  seeing  the 
small  farms  or  clearings  of  the  colonists.  These  exhibit- 
ed considerable  labor,  and  were  beginning,  by  degrees,  to 
assume  the  appearance  of  well  -  cultivated  fields.  The 
roads  through  the  whole  of  this  settlement  were  remark- 
ably good,  when  the  youth  of  the  colony  and  its  small 
means  were  taken  into  consideration. 


1  62  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

"At  all  the  various  settlements  the  laws  were  faithful- 
ly observed  ;  the  morals  of  the  people  were  good,  and  the 
community  seemed  to  be  animated  by  a  strong  religious 
sentiment. 

"  Governor  Roberts,  of  Liberia,  a  fair  mulatto,  and 
Russwarm,  of  Cape  Palmas,  are  clever  and  estimable 
men,  and  we  have  in  these  two  men  unanswerable  proofs 
of  the  capacity  of  the  colored  people  for  self-government. 

"  The  climate  of  Western  Africa  can  not  be  considered 
as  unwholesome  to  colored  colonists.  Every  one  must 
pass  through  the  acclimating  fever ;  but,  now  that  more 
convenient  dwellings  are  erected,  so  that  the  sick  may  be 
properly  attended  to,  the  mortality  has  considerably  de- 
creased. Once  well  through  this  sickness,  the  colonist 
finds  the  climate  and  the  air  suitable  to  his  constitution ; 
not  so  the  white  man.  The  residence  of  a  few  years  on 
this  coast  is  certain  death  to  him. 

"The  experiment  of  the  United  States  to  found  a  col- 
ony upon  this  coast  for  the  free  colored  people  has  suc- 
ceeded beyond  expectation,  and  I  venture  to  predict  that 
the  descendants  of  the  present  colonists  are  destined  to 
become  a  wise  and  powerful  people." 

A  white  American  physician,  who  spent  six  years  in 
Liberia,  states  that  the  imports  of  the  young  negro  state 
amount  to  120,000  dollars  annually,  and  their  exports  to 
nearly  the  same  sum.  "  The  trade  of  our  country  with 
Africa,"  writes  an  American  this  year  (1850),  "is  becom- 
ing daily  of  more  importance." 

The  colony  of  Liberia  is  said  to  number  at  the  present 
time  upward  of  ten  thousand  persons.  The  English  col- 
ony at  Sierra  Leone,  older  and  more  important,  upward 
of  forty  thousand. 

It  thus  appears  as  if  Liberia  and  Sierra  Leone  would 
become  the  nurseries  from  which  the  new  civilization 
and  the  more  beautiful  future  of  Africa  would  proceed  : 
I  can  not  believe  but  that  these  plants  from  a  foreign  land 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  163 

must  before  that  time  undergo  a  metamorphosis — must 
become  more  African. 

If  I  had  time  and  money  enough,  I  would  go  over  to 
Liberia  for  twelve  months.  But  where  would  I  not  go  to, 
and  what  would  I  not  see,  which  is  significant  in  nature 
or  in  popular  life  over  the  whole  world?  I  would  make 
the  whole  earth  my  own.     Why  is  life  so  short  ? 

Cincinnati,  November  29th. 

I  yesterday  celebrated  Thanksgiving  Day,  one  of  the  few 
national  festivals  of  the  New  World,  a  festival  which  ought 
to  be  observed  by  all  nations  as  one  of  the  most  worthy 
of  a  noble  and  clear-eyed  humanity.  The  festival  was  cel- 
ebrated on  a  week  day,  and  converted  it  into  a  Sabbath. 
I  attended  in  the  forenoon  in  a  Baptist  church.  The  min- 
ister, a  man  of  talent,  took  as  the  subject  of  his  discourse, 
after  thanksgiving  for  both  public  and  private  benefits 
which  were  enumerated,  the  subject  of  slavery  in  the 
United  States.  He  had  been  upbraided  as  timid  in  ex- 
pressing himself  on  this  subject ;  he  now,  therefore,  wished 
to  clear  himself  from  suspicion,  and  to  show  that  he  had 
no  fear.  He  condemned  slavery,  and  lamented  its  intro- 
duction into  America,  but  he  condemned  also  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Abolitionists.  They  had  involved  the  affair, 
they  had  rendered  emancipation  impossible  in  America. 
The  preacher  considered  that  slavery  in  America  had 
never  less  prospect  of  abolition  than  at  the  present  time. 
"  Never  had  the  Southern  States  grasped  the  chain  of  slav- 
ery with  a  firmer  hand.  Threats  and  defiance  have  been 
the  offspring  of  threats  and  defiance."  The  hope  of  the 
speaker  lay  in  the  devotion  of  the  African  people  to  Amer- 
ica, and  in  the  colonization  of  Christianized  negro  slaves 
on  the  coast  of  Africa,  and  these  he  considered  to  be  the 
only  available  means  for  the  gradual  abolition  of  slavery. 
After  some  interesting  statements  regarding  the  products 
of  Africa  and  the  advantage  which  free  African  labor  must 
have   over   slave  labor,  together  with  the  increasing  re- 


164  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

sources  of  Liberia,  he  presented  a  poetically  beautiful  view 
of  the  possible  future  of  the  Ethiopic  race  in  its  mother- 
country,  this  hot,  mystic  Africa. 

I  had  followed  the  preacher  with  the  deepest  interest. 
His  concluding  remarks  awoke  a  vision  within  my  soul. 

I  believe  that  "hot,  mystic  Africa,"  with  its  Mountains 
of  the  Moon,  its  Nile,  its  pyramids,  and  its  tropical  forests 
swarming  with  animal  life  and  the  luxuriance  of  the  veg- 
etable kingdom,  awake  to  a  new  existence.  I  beheld 
Asia,  with  its  old,  primeval  wisdom,  its  old,  half-petrified 
kingdoms ;  Europe,  with  its  manifold  kingdoms  and  people 
stamped  with  their  living  peculiarities  of  character ;  I  be- 
held America,  the  youngest,  but  ere  long  the  most  power- 
ful, of  earth's  own  daughters,  with  her  new  men  born  from 
the  morning  dew  of  a  new  life ;  I  beheld  Australia,  with 
its  colonies  of  prodigal  but  forgiven  sons  again  received 
into  the  father's  house :  I  beheld  them  all  raise  themselves 
anew  in  the  name  of  the  Prince  of  Peace,  and  all  unite  as 
never  before  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  in  songs  of  praise  at 
the  Divine  Nativity,  "  Glory  to  Grod  in  the  highest ;  on 
earth  peace,  and  good-will  to  man!" 

A  stream  of  melodious  sound  burst  through  the  church, 
bearing  with  it  the  words  of  the  song  of  praise.  I  recog- 
nized that  mighty,  magnificent  chorus.  I  had  heard  it 
before,  but  I  knew  not  where.  But  it  seemed  to  me  that 
it  was  the  soul  of  every  song  of  praise  on  earth. 

It  was  that  Swedish  Mass,  "Praise  and  thank  the 
Lord,"  &c,  which  is  sung  by  the  choir  of  the  church.  I 
had  to  thank  a  countryman  of  mine,  the  director  of  the 
choir  of  this  church,  for  this  pleasure.  When  the  congre- 
gation arose  and  sang  Halleluiah  in  the  song  of  my  native 
land,  sang  it  for  my  people,  and  for  all  people  on  earth,  it 
was  glorious !     But  I  then  could  not  sing. 

I  can  never  celebrate  a  more  beautiful  thanksgiving 
festival ;  and  never  shall  I  forget  this  moment.  ' 

I  must  yet  add  a  few  words  about  the  state  and  the 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  165 

city  in  which  I  am  a  happy  guest.  The  wealthy,  beau- 
tiful Ohio  is  placed  like  the  heart  in  that  great  group  of 
states  between  the  Eastern  Ocean  and  the  Mississippi. 
And  although  this  state  is  one  of  the  youngest  in  the 
Union,  I  feel  that  a  more  central  life  stirs  here  than  in 
any  of  the  states  which  I  have  hitherto  visited.  It  seems 
to  me  as  if  people  here  wished  with  unprejudiced  minds 
to  do  justice  to  all  powers  and  tendencies  of  humanity, 
and  to  allow  every  one  his  proper  share  of  the  heart's  life 
and  blood.  Among  the  facts  of  this  class  I  place  the  Med- 
ical College  here,  under  the  direction  of  an  intellectual 
young  man,  Dr.  J.  Buchanan,  and  in  which  Allopathy 
and  Homeopathy,  Hydropathy,  and  the  so-called  Botanic- 
al Medicine  are  admitted  and  studied  as  natural  methods 
in  nature's  sanitary  code,  and  all  as  serviceable  in  certain 
diseases  and  circumstances,  all  as  necessary  in  a  compre- 
hensive system  of  study  of  health  and  disease.  Buchanan 
makes  man  the  measure  of  the  universe  and  its  centre. 
He  sees  the  centre  of  man  in  the  human  brain,  and  from 
that  point  strikes  out  an  infinite,  glorious  future,  in  which 
all  those  infinite  possibilities  now  slumbering  within  it 
will^levelop  themselves  into  life  and  harmony  on  earth 
and  in  the  universe.  Amid  severe  daily  labor  and  many 
anxieties,  he  reposes  in  this  view  as  in  the  Sabbath-festi- 
val of  his  spirit. 

Among  the  facts  of  this  class  I  place  Oberlin  College, 
where  the  youth  of  colored  as  well  as  white  people,  both 
boys  and  girls,  study  and  take  degrees  in  all  those 
branches  of  knowledge  which  are  taught  in  the  American 
academies. 

Among  these  I  place  the  works  and  opinions  of  many 
distinguished  men,  who  are  occupied  in  organizing  a  more 
complete  and  comprehensive  scheme  of  education  for 
women  as  well  as  for  men. 

Cincinnati,  the  Queen  of  the  "West,  which  has  her 
throne  upon  the  banks  of  the  beautiful  river  (Ohio),  with 


166  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

a  background  of  encircling  hills,  like  a  queen  surrounded 
by  her  court  ladies,  is  a  cosmopolitan  city,  and  embraces 
in  her  bosom  peoples  of  all  nations  and  all  religious  sects. 
Grermans  constitute  a  considerable  portion  of  the  popula- 
tion of  the  city,  which  now  amounts  to  120,000  souls. 
The  Grermans  live  here  as  in  their  old  Grermany.  They 
are  gemuthlich,  drink  beer,  practice  music,  and  still  pon- 
der here  uuber  die  WeltgeschichteP  I  have  lately  read 
a  little  book  with  this  title  by  a  Dr.  Patte,  who  resides 
here.  The  Q,ueen  of  the  West  allows  all  her  subjects  to 
ponder,  talk,  and  write  as  best  pleases  them.  She  is  the 
most  liberal  queen  in  the  world. 

Schools,  however,  in  Ohio  are  not  equal  to  those  of  the 
Northeastern  States ;  but  there  is  an  earnest  endeavor  at 
work  for  their  improvement.  When  I  visited  one  of  the 
district  boys'  schools  of  Cincinnati,  it  was  said  to  me,  as 
I  entered  one  of  the  halls  of  the  school,  "  This  is  oar  best- 
regulated  room  ;  here  it  is  never  necessary  to  use  corporal 
punishment." 

I  entered,  and  found  a  pale  young  woman,  of  a  mild 
aspect,  standing  in  the  teacher's  seat,  controlling  with 
gentle  power  from  thirty  to  forty  wild  young  republicans. 
The  elementary  schools  for  boys,  as  well  as  for  girls,  are 
under  the  management  of  women.  They  are  considered 
as  more  skillful  than  men  in  the  training  of  early  youth. 
They  receive  a  salary  of  from  three  to  five  hundred  dollars 
annually,  according  to  the  ability  which  they  show  for 
employment.  It  was  with  great  pleasure  that  I  heard  a 
lesson  by  which  these  lesser  children  were  taught  to  treat 
animals  with  justice  and  kindness.  They  repeated  from 
memory  stories  in  which  cruelty  to  animals  had  been 
punished  in  some  striking  manner.  I  am  not  aware 
whether  we  have  such  lessons  in  our  schools,  but  I  know 
well  enough  that  they  are  needed. 

Among  the  scientific  institutions  of  Cincinnati,  I  per- 
ceive that  the  Observatory  owes  its  existence  to  the  gen- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  167 

ius  and  zeal  of  a  private  man,  Professor  0.  M.  Mitchell. 
The  history  of  the  origin  of  this  beautiful  observatory, 
which  is  one  of  the  highest  class,  deserves  to  be  known, 
in  order  to  show  in  its  true  light  what  the  determination 
and  enthusiasm  of  an  individual  may  achieve  in  the  New 
World,  and  in  what  way  he  can  interest  the  mass  of  the 
people  for  a  science  which  he  desires  to  make  popular. 
It  is  the  triumph  of  genius,  and,  at  the  same  time,  of  pa- 
tience and  of  persevering  determination.  It  is  a  great 
commendation  of  the  man,  and  of  the  masses  also.  But 
the  history  of  all  this  would  be  too  long. 

The  arts  have  also  began  to  reveal  themselves  in  Cin- 
cinnati ;  but,  as  yet,  it  is  only  a  beginning.  The  city 
itself  is  hardly  sixty  years  old.  There  is  an  Art  Union 
here,  the  exhibition  of  which  I  visited  twice.  There  were 
some  good  pictures.  None,  however,  took  so  much  hold 
on  my  memory  as  a  humorous  little  painting  representing 
three  huge  swine  very  naturally.  They  were  sitting  upon 
their  hams,  below  a  rock,  on  which  was  inscribed  "  lard 
oil ;"  and  they  were  gazing  very  attentively  at  one  of 
their  brethren,  who  was  attacking  a  dead  whale,  which 
had  been  cast  upon  the  shore  hard  by.  Beyond  lay  the 
great  ocean.  This  little  humorously- conceived  and  well- 
painted  piece  hung  between  two  pictures,  the  subjects  of 
which  were  the  "  Loves  of  the  Angels" — ethereal  figures 
floating  forth  over  clear  lakes,  and  meeting  each  other  on 
verdant  flowery  shores.  A  greater  contrast  than  between 
those  poetical  pictures  and  the  prose  of  the  former  could 
scarcely  have  been  imagined.  Pity  only  that  the  execu- 
tion of  these  did  not  equal  that  of  the  other.  Our  Soder- 
mark  would  have  given  the  prize  to  the  latter.  So  should 
I ;  but  yet  I  would  not  have  had  the  picture  in  my  room,  nor 
yet  the  angel-poems,  with  all  their  bright  anticipations. 

The  fine  arts  have  hitherto  received  but  little  attention 
in  the  United  States;  it  m^  be  that  there  is  but  little 
distinguished  talent,  or,  which  I  suspect  is  the  case,  that 


168  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

the  people  in  general  are  deficient  in  artistic  feeling.  I 
have  heard  a  deal  said  of  an  American  painter  named 
Alston,  who  is  considered  one  of  the  greatest  painters,  and 
I  have  heard  his  works  very  highly  praised  and  admired ; 
yet,  nevertheless,  I  read  in  one  of  the  letters  of  the  nohle 
old  Channing  these  words:  "As  long  as  I  see  snch  men 
as  Alston  in  want  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  I  feel  that  I 
have  no  right  to  possess  its  superfluities." 

And  I  have  heard  my  friends,  the  S.'s,  of  New  York, 
speak  of  a  young  landscape  painter  of  that  city,  who  was 
possessed  of  unmistakable  talent,  and  a  man  of  estimable 
character,  who,  not  long  since?,  consulting  with  his  young 
wife  as  to  the  best  mode^of  managing^for-thenlselves  and 
their  two  little  ones,  came  to  the  agreement  that  the  best 
mode  of  all  would  be  for  them  to  die !  Grood  Grod !  And 
this  in  this  young,  wealthy  New  World  !  And  yet  the  pic- 
tures of  this  young  artist  are  of  the  class  which  I  would 
gladly  see  in  every  American  home.  And,  thus  encour- 
aged, he  would  soon  become  for  America  'What  our  Fahl- 
kranz  is  to  us,  a  poet  in  colors  of  the  peculiar  natural  scen- 
ery of  his  country. 

Sculpture  has  in  the  United  States  a  much  greater  hope 
of  successful  progress ;  and  in  Hiram  Powers  they  have 
produced  an  artist  of  the  highest  class,  not  so  much  as  a 
creative  genius  as  for  feeling  and  execution.  His  Proser- 
pine, his  listening  Fisher  Boy,  his  Greek  Slave,  have  been 
admired  in  old  Italy.  The  expression,  so  refined  and  so 
full  of  soul,  is  as  admirable  in  his  works  as  the  perfected 
beauty  of  the  form.     His  creations  seem  to  live. 

Hiram  Powers  was  born  in  Cincinnati,  and  worked 
there  as  a  poor  boy  in  the  shop  of  a  watchmaker.  Here 
he  even  then  showed  his  peculiar  genius.  Some  of  the 
affluent  men  of  the  city  took  charge  of  the  promising  boy, 
and  furnished  him  with  the  means  of  studying  and  of 
traveling.  Foremost  among  these  was  Mr.  Longworth, 
and  to  him  Powers  sent,  as  a  token  of  gratitude,  his  first 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  *         169 

original  creation  in  marble.  I  say  creation,  because  there 
is  nothing  in  this  work  which  speaks  of  labor.  It  is  a 
figure  so  complete,  so  living  and  beautiful,  that  it  is  not 
to  be  described.  It  is  the  bust  of  a  woman  the  size  of  life. 
They  have  called  it  Genevra,  but  why  I  know  not.  It 
ought  to  be  called  Galathea,  because  Pygmalian  Powers 
has  infused  into  her  a  vitality  which  requires  only  a  divine 
indication  to  breathe ;  or,  rather,  it  ought  to  be  called  the 
American,  because  the  peculiar  beauty  of  the  features, 
the  form  and  action  of  the  head  and  neck,  are  those  of  the 
American  woman.  There  is  none  of  the  Greek  stiffness 
in  it ;  it  is  a  regularity  of  beauty  full  of  life  and  grace,  and 
the  expression  —  yes,  thus  ought  she  to  look,  the  woman 
of  the  New  World,  she  who,  sustained  by  a  public  spirit 
full  of  benevolence,  may  without  struggle  and  without 
protest  develop  the  fullness  and  the  earnestness  of  her  be- 
ing; thus  ought  she  to  smile,  to  glance,  to  move,  reposing 
in  this  as  in  a  world  of  truth,  goodness,  and  beauty;  thus 
ought  she  to  be  firm,  and  yet  pleasing;  thus  divinely  wise ; 
thus  angefically  harmonious  and  kind ;  thus  ought  she  to 
work !  And  then,  then  shall  ascend  the  new  day  of  the 
New  World! 

Mr.  Longworth  had  jocularly  prepared  me,  before  he 
conducted  me  into  his  cabinet  of  art,  where  his  bust 
stands,  "  for  the  rudeness  of  the  first  work  of  a  young 
artist,"  and  requested  me  to  overlook  this.  I  gazed  at 
the  figure,  and  contemplated  it  till  my  heart  swelled  with 
emotion  and  my  eyes  overflowed  with  tears.  I  wept  be- 
fore the  ideal  of  the  new  beauty,  not  because  I  was  my- 
self so  far  removed  from  it — no,  but  in  admiration,  in  joy, 
in  hope,  in  the  consciousness  that  I  here  beheld  that  wom- 
an of  the  New  World,  that  Gralathea,  which  now  slumbers 
in  marble,  but  who  will  one  day  receive  life  from  the  Di- 
vine touch.  And  have  I  not  already  seen  her  features, 
her  life  among  some  of  the  young  women  of  this  beauti- 
ful country  ?     I  see  them,  and  I  mention  beloved  names ! 

Vol.  IL— H 


170  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

From  this  time  forth  I  shall  look  for  these  features, 
this  expression  in  the  countenance  of  every  young  wom- 
an ;  she  will  become  dear  or  indifferent  to  me  according  as 
she  more  or  less  resembles  the  image  of  the  Gralathea  of 
the  New  World. 

Casts  of  this  bust  ought  to  be  in  the  possession  of  every 
American  home,  and  every  young  girl  should  grow  up 
under  its  observation,  like  as  Hawthorn's  youth  grew  up 
gazing  upon  that  "  great  stone  countenance,"  until  his 
countenance  acquired  its  beauty. 

Have  I  told  you  that  I  here  live  in  the  vine-district  of 
North  America?  The  vine,  which  grows  luxuriantly  wild 
throughout  the  whole  of  North  America,  has  been  culti- 
vated on  the  heights  which  border  the  Ohio  River  with 
great  attention,  principally  by  Mr.  Longworth,  and  here 
is  made  American  Sherry  and  Champagne.  The  Cataw- 
ba and  Isabella  grapes  are  the  kinds  generally  cultivated 
in  this  country,  but  they  do  not  ripen  here  as  regularly  as 
on  the  Rhine  and  the  Seine ;  the  inequality  of  the  climate 
is  the  cause  of  this.  • 

Farewell!  I  must  make  an  end.  When  I  shall  next 
converse  with  you  I  know  not;  but  have  we  not  com- 
menced an  intercourse  and  formed  a  friendship  which  es- 
teems but  lightly  time  and  space,  and  the  visible  sign? 
Our  place  of  communion  is — Eternity.  Yet,  nevertheless, 
a  visible  sign  is  precious ;  and  if  you  would  give  me  one 
in  this  distant  land,  how  welcome  it  would  be! 

Your  words  are  ever  with  me  like  a  silent  communion : 
"I  believe  in  a  sun,  an  organizing  power,  of  which  every 
bright  thought,  all  suggestive  life,  is  an  outpouring !" 
That  was  one  of  the  first  observations  you  made  to  me. 

This  sun  has  become  my  sun.  In  this  light  I  go  forth 
seeking  and  reflecting,  and  that  which  I  see  in  this  light 
you  also  shall  see,  for  that  which  is  mine  is  yours. 

I  embrace  your  wife,  and  kiss  the  little  ones  around 
her,  and  expect  to  be  embraced  and  kissed  by  them  again 
— in  Sweden! 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  171 

P.S. — My  letter  terrifies  me ;  it  has  grown  to  such  a 
length  and  breadth,  that  my  friends  in  Cincinnati  must 
regard  it  as  one  of  the  shapeless  giant  productions  of  the 
Great  West,  a  sort  of  Rhine  muse  from  the  Mississippi 
Utgaerd.  It  strikes  me  like  some  sort  of  witch  with 
many  feet,  and  many  eyes  peeping  out  on  all  sides.  And 
now  it  shall  run  off  to  Sweden !  Off  with  it!  and  what 
the  thing  has  of  head  and  heart  I  will  trust  you  for  find- 
ing out. 

In  a  few  days  I  shall  set  off  for  New  Orleans,  and  from 
thence  to  Cuba  for  the  winter  months.  I  wish  to  see  the 
face  of  the  earth  under  a  tropical  sun  and  under  the  do- 
minion of  the  Spaniard.  I  wish  to  see  the  Southern 
Cross  and  the  great  star  Argo  in  the  heavens.  Then  I 
will  turn  back  toward  the  Pole-star,  and  our  silent  North, 
my  dear,  quiet  home ! 


LETTER    XXXI. 

Noah's  Ark,  on  the  Mississippi,  Dec.  18th. 

The  day  before  yesterday,  the  16th,  I  left  Cincinnati; 
my  kind,  excellent  host  and  hostess  accompanied  me  on 
board  the  steamer,  and  overwhelmed  me  at  the  last  mo- 
ment with  proofs  of  their  good-will,  all  light  and  agree- 
able to  bear  away  with  me,  because  they  were  bestowed 
with  a  warm  heart,  and  they  were  to  accompany  me  to 
Sweden,  and  there  remind  me  of  the  beautiful  Ohio  and 
my  Cincinnati  home.  The  good  Jothim,  Mr.  S.,  present- 
ed me  with  a  collection  of  shells  from  the  Ohio  River, 
some  of  which  are  extremely  beautiful. 

It  was  a  lovely  sunny  day,  that  on  which  I  commenced 
my  journey,  and  Cincinnati,  its  vine-covered  hills,  its 
lovely  villas,  and  the  River  Ohio  were  brilliant  in  the  sun- 
shine. There  was  a  sunny  warmth  in  my  soul  likewise, 
and  the  proofs  of  kindness  which  I  received  from  many 


172  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

friends  in  the  city  during  the  last  few  days  were  to  me 
like  the  soft  summer  wind;  but  I  was  very  weary  after 
a  violent  headache  and  the  excitement  of  departure.  I 
longed  for  rest  and  silence. 

The  giant  steamer  Belle  Key  moved  slowly  along,  thun- 
dering down  the  clear  blue  river,  the  lofty  shores  of  which, 
with  their  ever-changing  scenes,  glided  past  cheerful  and 
lovely.  The  river  became  broader,  the  hills  sank  lower, 
the  villas  disappeared,  farm-houses  and  log-houses  recurred 
at  more  and  more  distant  intervals,  the  banks  became 
more  wooded  and  desolate.  We  approached  the  Missis- 
sippi. 

What  is  going  on?  Why  do  the  people  rush  out  from 
the  fields  ?    A  chase  upon  the  water  ? 

A  stag  with  branching  antlers  swims  across  the  river 
from  the  Kentucky  to  the  Ohio  shore.  He  is  not  far  from 
the  free  shore  ;  but  two  boats  are  after  him  from  the 
slave  shore.  His  proud  antlers  raise  themselves  high  above 
the  water.  He  swims  rapidly ;  perhaps  he  may  save  him- 
self! He  is  just  at  the  shore.  Ah!  and  now  a  boat  puts 
out  from  the  free  shore  toward  him.  Woe  betide  the  poor 
fugitive !  He  turns  round.  The  two  boats  from  Kentucky 
meet  him.  Now  he  is  surrounded.  I  see  the  oars  lifted 
from  all  the  three  boats  to  give  him  his  death-blow.  That 
beautiful  head  is  still  seen  above  the  water.  Now  fall 
the  oars !  I  turn  my  head  away.  The  steamer  rounds  a 
point.  We  have  lost  sight  of  the  wild  chase.  The  de- 
fenseless fugitive  is  in  the  power  of  his  pursuers. 

I  am  weary  and  dejected.  The  air  is  pleasant,  the  wa- 
ter bright  and  blue ;  heaven  also  is  bright.  Does  the  deer 
find  no  peaceful  meadows  beyond  the  river  of  death,  where 
he  may  rest  after  the  wild  chase  ? 

The  steamer  Belle  Key  is  of  the  family  of  the  river 
giants.  I  call  it  Noah's  Ark,  because  it  has  more  than  a 
thousand  animals  on  board,  on  the  deck  below  us  and 
above  us.     Immense  oxen,  really  mammoth  oxen,  so  fat 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  173 

that  they  can  scarcely  walk — cows,  calves,  horses,  mules, 
sheep,  pigs,  whole  herds  of  them,  send  forth  the  sound  of 
their  gruntings  from  the  lower  deck,  and  send  up  to  us 
between  times  any  thing  but  agreeable  odors ;  and  on  the 
deck  above  us  turkeys  gobble  —  geese,  ducks,  hens,  and 
cocks  crow  and  fight,  and  little  pigs  go  rushing  wildly 
about,  and  among  the  poultry  pens. 

On  the  middle  deck,  where  we,  the  sons  and  daughters 
of  Adam  are  bestowed,  every  thing,  in  the  mean  time,  is 
remarkably  comfortable.  The  ladies'  saloon  is  large  and 
handsome,  and  the  passengers  few,  and  of  an  excellent 
class.  I  have  my  state-room  to  myself.  I  am  like  a  prin- 
cess in  a  fairy-tale.  My  cavalier  for  the  journey,  Mr. 
Lerner  H.,  is  one  of  that  energetic  and  warm-hearted  class 
of  American  men,  and  add  to  this  a  very  agreeable  fel- 
low also,  who  in  his  behavior  to  "  a  lady  intrusted  to  his 
care"  has  that  blending  of  brotherly  cordiality  and  chival- 
ric  politeness  which  makes  the  man  of  the  New  World  the 
most  agreeable  companion  that  a  lady  can  desire.  No 
screaming  children  disturb  the  quietness  on  board  ;  and 
the  grunting  of  the  swine  and  other  animal  sounds  in  our 
Noah's  Ark  we  do  not  allow  to  trouble  us.  All  these 
animals  are  destined  to  the  Christmas  market  of  New 
Orleans. 

December  17th.  The  Mississippi-Missouri  flows  turbidly 
and  broad  with  its  increasing  waters,  full  of  drift-wood, 
trees,  branches,  and  stumps,  which  give  us  sometimes  no 
inconsiderable  bumps.  The  shores  are  low  and  swampy, 
covered  with  the  now  leafless  woods  of  a  kind  of  pop- 
lar called  cotton- wood.  It  is  horribly  monotonous.  The 
weather  is  gray  and  cold,  and  every  thing  looks  gray 
around  us.  We  have  now  Missouri  on  our  right,  and  Ken- 
tucky on  our  left.  I  am  sorry  not  to  have  had  time  to  see 
more  of  Kentucky  and  Kentucky  people.  They  are  pe- 
culiar in  appearance  and  in  disposition.  They  are  tall, 
very  limber  in  their  joints,  and  dexterous,  generous,  free- 


174  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

spoken,  good-natured,  cordial,  droll  people,  whom  I  should 
have  become  very  fond  of.  And  then  "Skyrnir's  Glove," 
the  mammoth  cave,  and  the  little  green  river  which  flows 
there  —  I  ought  to  have  seen  them!  Lerner  H.  talks 
about  that  cave  till  I  almost  fany  I  have  seen  it. 

I  must  tell  you  of  a  pleasure  which  he  prepared  for  me 
one  evening  on  the  Ohio.  He  asked  me  whether  I  should 
like  to  hear  the  negroes  of  the  ship  sing,  and  led  me  for 
this  purpose  to  the  lowest  deck,  where  I  beheld  a  strange 
scene.  The  immense  engine-fires  are  all  on  this  deck, 
eight  or  nine  apertures  all  in  a  row ;  they  are  like  yawn- 
ing fiery  throats,  and  beside  each  throat  stood  a  negro 
naked  to  his  middle,  who  flung  in  fire-wood.  Pieces  of 
wood  were  passed  onward  to  these  feeders  by  other  ne- 
groes, who  stood  up  aloft  on  a  large  open  place  between 
them  and  a  negro,  who,  standing  on  a  lofty  stack  of  fire- 
wood, threw  down  with  vigorous  arms  food  for  the  mon- 
sters on  deck.  Lerner  H.  encouraged  the  negroes  to  sing ; 
and  the  negro  up  aloft  on  the  pile  of  fire-wood  began  im- 
mediately an  improvised  song  in  stanzas,  and  at  the  close 
of  each  the  negroes  down  below  joined  in  vigorous  chorus. 
It  was  a  fantastic  and  grand  sight  to  see  these  energetic 
black  athletes  lit  up  by  the  wildly  flashing  flames  from 
the  fiery  throats,  while  they,  amid  their  equally  fantastic 
song,  keeping  time  most  exquisitely,  hurled  one  piece  of 
fire- wood  after  another  into  the  yawning  fiery  gulf.  Every 
thing  went  on  with  so  much  life,  and  so  methodically,  and 
the  whole  scene  was  so  accordant  and  well  arranged,  that 
it  would  have  produced  a  fine  effect  upon  any  theatre 
whatever.  The  improvisation  was  brought  finally  to  a 
close  with  a  hint  that  the  singing  would  become  doubly 
merry,  and  would  sing  twice  as  well,  if  they  could  have  a 
little  brandy  when  they  reached  Louisville,  and  that  they 
could  bay  brandy  if  they  could  have  a  little  money,  and 
so  on. 

Nor  did  Mr.  H.  allow  them  to  be  mistaken  in  their  an- 
ticipations. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  175 

We  are  still  in  the  grain-district  of  the  Mississippi,  but 
we  shall  soon  reach  the  region  of  cotton.  We  have  now 
Arkansas  on  our  right  hand,  and  Tennessee  on  our  left, 
slave  states  rich  in  natural  beauty,  but  still  rude  in  spirit- 
ual and  material  culture. 

December  20th.  We  are  now  in  the  region  of  cotton. 
The  shores  on  both  sides  are  low  and  swampy,  covered  by 
forests  of  cotton- wood-trees,  now  leafless.  Here  and  there, 
however,  are  interspersed  cotton  plantations,  with  the 
white  slave  villages  and  the  habitations  of  the  planters ; 
and  one  sees  swarthy  figures  moving  about  on  the  gray 
soil,  gathering  the  cotton-pods  that  still  remain  upon  the 
blackening  shrubs.  I  went  on  shore  to-day  with  Mr.  H. 
at  a  cotton  plantation,  and  broke  off  some  branches,  with 
tufts  of  cotton  still  hanging  upon  them,  from  shrubs  which 
grew  round  a  slave-hut.  The  tufts  of  cotton  are  extreme- 
ly beautiful  as  they  come  forth  from  the  opening  capsules 
of  the  seed-pod.  Every  seed  is  imbedded  in  a  pillow  of 
cotton.  Cotton  is  the  envelope  of  the  seed.  You  shall 
see  it  when  I  return. 

We  have  now  Arkansas  on  our  right,  and  the  State  of 
Mississippi  on  our  left.  Along  the  river  lie  the  cane- 
brake,  thick  reed-like  canes,  which  stand  up  as  impene- 
trable as  a  wall  between  the  water  and  the  land. 

Thus  far  came  Father  Marquette  upon  his  sun-bright 
Mississippi  journey  from  the  North ;  thus  far,  also,  from 
the  South  advanced  the  first  European  discoverer,  the 
Spaniard,  Ferdinand  de  Soto. 

The  discovery  of  the  Mississippi  is  two  poems  ;  the  one 
beautiful  and  sun-bright  as  its  idyllian  islands  and  its 
clear  waters  in  the  North,  the  other  as  melancholy,  as 
tragically  gloomy  as  the  tint  and  the  scenery  of  the  river 
in  its  southern  portion,  through  which  I  am  now  journey- 
ing. The  hero  of  the  former  is  the  mild,  unpretending 
Father  Marquette.  The  hero  of  the  latter  is  the  proud 
warrior,  Ferdinand  de  Soto. 


176  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Soto  had  been  the  favorite  companion  of  Pizarro  in  the 
conquest  of  Peru  ;  he  had  distinguished  himself  at  the 
storming  of  Cusco,  and  was  favored  by  Charles  V.  in 
Spain,  and  rewarded  both  with  honor  and  wealth,  and 
finally  appointed  by  him  Governor  of  Cuba.  But  his 
proud,  ambitious  mind  desired  more.  Fooled  by  false 
prophets,  and  most  of  all  by  his  own  heart,  he  desired  to 
fit  out  an  expedition  at  his  own  cost,  which  should  ad- 
vance from  Florida  into  North  America,  and  there  conquer 
for  the  Spaniards  richer  treasures  and  more  beautiful  lands 
than  those  of  Mexico  and  Peru ;  and  his  own  belief  pos- 
sessed so  great  a  power  of  influencing  the  mind  of  the 
Spaniards,  that  vast  numbers  of  young  men  of  noble  birth 
and  good  fortune  enlisted  under  his  command.  They 
sold  their  vineyards,  their  houses,  and  valuables  to  pur- 
chase expensive  arms,  equipments,  and  horses.  Out  of 
multitudes  who  offered  themselves  as  volunteers  on  this 
new  expedition  of  discovery,  he  selected  six  hundred  young 
men,  all  adventurers,  wealthy,  and  proud  as  himself. 

A  more  magnificent  spectacle  was  never  beheld  than 
that  of  the  landing  of  these  proud  cavaliers  on  the  shore 
of  the  New  "World ;  their  banners  and  standards  floating 
in  the  air,  in  the  soft  air  of  Florida,  full,  as  it  were,  of 
youthful  vitality,  of  the  intoxicating  elixir  of  life.  Thus 
galloped  they  onward  in  burnished  armor,  "  very  gallant, 
with  silk  upon  silk,"  along  the  shore  between  the  sea  and 
the  unknown  land  which  they  believed  to  be  full  of  gold 
and  great  cities. 

Ferdinand  de  Soto,  who  wished  to  prevent  all  possibil- 
ity, either  for  himself  or  his  troop,  of  retreat,  which  might 
be  desired  by  fickleness  or  by  fear,  sent  back  all  his  ves- 
sels to  Cuba,  and  advanced  with  his  warriors  into  the 
wildernesses  of  the  New  World.  They  took  with  them 
.  weapons  of  all  kinds,  work-tools,  as  well  as  chains  and 
bloodhounds  for  the  subjection  of  the  natives. 

It  was  in  the  month  of  May,  1539. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  177 

And  ever  as  they  advanced  onward  through  the  wilder- 
ness, mass  was  punctually  performed  by  priests  with  all 
the  pomp  of  Catholic  observance,  and  ever  as  they  ad- 
vanced onward  they  practiced  cruelty  against  the  natives, 
while  in  their  own  camp  they  occupied  themselves  with 
the  excitement  of  desperate  gaming. 

The  wanderings  of  the  first  year  were  westward,  thence 
into  Georgia,  which  was  then,  like  all  the  rest  of  the  un- 
determined southeastern  continent,  called  Florida.  Their 
journeyings  were  difficult,  and  often  dangerous,  from  the 
hostility  of  the  Indians.  They  found  abundance  of  maize, 
but  no  gold  and  no  cities,  only  small  Indian  villages.  Nor 
could  the  natives  inform  them  of  any  land  in  which  gold 
was  to  be  found.  Some  of  the  adventurers  now  desired 
that  their  leader  should  turn  back ;  but  he  replied, 

"  I  will  not  turn  back  till  I  have  seen  the  poverty  of 
the  country  with  my  own  eyes." 

And  he  ordered  the  Indians  to  be  burned  or  mutilated, 
whom  he  believed  had  intentionally  misled  him.  Other 
captive  Indians,  alarmed  at  this,  assured  him  that  gold 
might  be  found  further  toward  the  northwest.  And  De 
Soto  and  his  men  journeyed  on  still  further,  plundering 
and  desolating  as  they  went. 

The  second  year  brought  them  into  the  highlands  of 
Greorgia,  where  they  fell  in  with  the  peaceful  and  gentle 
Cherokee  Indians.  A  number  of  De  Soto's  people  wished 
to  settle  themselves  down  here  in  the  midst  of  this  beau- 
tiful region,  to  till  the  soil  and  enjoy  the  good  things  of 
the  earth.  But  De  Soto  had  promised  Spain  gold  and 
great  cities,  and  the  proud  Spaniard  would  not  rest  until 
he  had  found  them.  He  was  an  obstinate  man,  of  few 
words  and  strong  will,  and  all  his  attendants  yielded  them- 
selves to  him. 

They  wandered  still  further ;  advanced  into  Alabama, 
where  there  was  a  large  town  called  Mavilla  (afterward 
Mobile).     Here  the  Indians  rose  up  against  him.    A  bat- 

H2 


178  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

tie  ensued — the  Spanish  cavalry  overcame  the  enemy :  a 
more  bloody  Indian  battle  was  never  fought  on  American 
soil;  the  town  was  set  on  fire;  two  thousand  five  hund- 
red Indians  are  said  to  have  been  slain,  suffocated,  or 
burned  ;  the  Spaniards  lost  a  few  of  their  number,  and 
most  of  their  baggage,  which  perished  in  the  flames  with 
the  Indian  town. 

Spanish  ships  had,  however,  in  the  mean  time,  arrived 
from  Cuba  at  Pensacola  Bay,  near  Mavilla.  But  De  Soto 
had  not  yet  found  either  silver  or  gold  ;  the  flames  of  Ma- 
villa had  destroyed  the  curious  collections  which  he  had 
made,  and,  too  proud  to  acknowledge  his  hopes  defeated, 
he  resolved  to  send  no  news  of  himself  until  he  had  ob- 
tained that  for  which  he  sought.  He  turned  away  from 
the  sea-coast  and  proceeded  northwestward,  in  the  State 
of  Mississippi.  His  little  band  was  now  diminished  to 
five  hundred  men. 

In  the  northern  parts  of  Mississippi  they  were  surprised 
by  winter,  with  severe  frost  and  snow.  But  maize  was 
still  standing  in  the  fields,  and  the  Spaniards  were  able 
to  obtain  a  supply  of  food  and  shelter  for  the  winter  also 
in  the  deserted  huts  of  the  Chickasaw  Indians.  But  they 
had  not  yet  found  gold  ;  neither  had  the  Indians  golden 
ornaments.  They  were  poor,  but  loved  freedom.  When 
spring  came,  and  De  Soto  demanded  from  them  an  es- 
cort to  carry  the  baggage  of  his  soldiers,  the  Indians  set 
fire  to  his  camp,  and  their  fierce  war-whoop  rang  through 
the  night  and  amid  the  flames. 

The  Spaniards  lost  here  the  clothing  and  the  stores 
which  had  been  saved  from  the  fires  of  Mavilla.  They 
were  now  as  naked  as  their  Indian  enemies,  and  they 
suffered  from  cold  and  hunger;  but  with  his  difficulties 
increased  the  pride  and  obstinacy  of  De  Soto.  Was  it 
for  him,  who  had  promised  to  conquer  the  treasures  of 
the  world,  to  return  with  half- naked  men  despoiled  of 
their  all? 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 


179 


He  ordered  the  chains  to  be  taken  from  the  limbs  of 
the  captives,  and  new  weapons  to  be  forged;  he  clothed 
his  troops  in  garments  of  skins  and  mats  of  ivy-leaves,  and 
advanced  still  further  west  in  search  of  the  land  of  gold. 

For  seven  days  they  wandered  through  a  wilderness  of 
forests  and  morasses.  They  then  reached  the  Indian  set- 
tlements on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi. 

Ferdinand  de  Soto  was  the  first  European  who  beheld 
the  mighty  river. 

The  lapse  of  three  centuries  has  not  changed  its  char- 
acter. It  was  then  described  as  broad  and  turbid,  flow- 
ing on  with  a  powerful  current,  and  with  a  quantity  of 
trees  and  timber  always  floating  on  its  stream. 

In  May,  1541,  the  Spaniards  crossed  the  river  in  large 
boats  which  they  themselves  had  built.  De  Soto  pro- 
ceeded into  Arkansas.  Here  the  Spaniards  were  saluted 
by  the  natives  as  children  of  the  Sun,  and  the  blind  were 
brought  to  them  that  they  might  receive  their  sight  from 
the  children  of  the  Light. 

"  Pray  only  to  Grod  who  dwells  in  heaven,"  replied  De 
Soto,  "  and  He  will  give  you  what  you  need." 

Following  his  dark  impulse,  De  Soto  advanced  still  fur- 
ther toward  the  northwest,  and  finally  reached  the  high- 
lands of  the  White  River,  two  hundred  miles  from  the 
Mississippi.  But  neither  did  these  mountains  yield  gold 
nor  precious  stones! 

De  Soto  and  his  people  took  up  their  winter  quarters  in 
an  Indian  town  on  the  banks  of  the  White  River,  Washi- 
ta, among  a  peaceful  Indian  tribe,  who  were  employed  in 
agriculture,  and  who  had  fixed  towns.  The  young  cava- 
liers practiced  upon  the  unoffending  natives  every  cruelty 
which  their  unbridled  caprice  suggested.  De  Soto,  it  is 
said,  had  no  pleasure  in  cruelty;  but  the  lives  and  rights 
of  the  Indians  were  counted  as  nothing  by  him. 

In  the  following  spring  De  Soto  determined  to  descend 
the  Washita  to  its  junction,  and  to  obtain  tidings  of  the 


180  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

sea.  He  bewildered  himself  among  the  morasses  which 
border  the  Red  River  and  its  tributaries.  In  one  prov- 
ince, called  G-uachoya,  he  inquired  from  the  chief  how 
far  it  was  thence  to  the  sea?  The  chief  could  not  tell. 
Were  there  settlements  through  the  country  from  that 
point  to  the  junction  of  the  river  ?  He  was  told  that  the 
whole  country  there  was  an  uninhabitable  swamp.  De 
Soto,  unwilling  to  credit  such  discouraging  intelligence, 
sent  men  on  horseback  to  examine  the  land  southward 
along  the  Mississippi.  In  eight  days  they  were  not  able 
to  advance  further  than  thirty  miles,  they  were  so  con- 
stantly impeded  by  morasses,  by  the  denseness  of  the  for- 
ests, and  the  impenetrable  cane-brakes. 

The  governor  heard  their  report  in  gloomy  silence. 
Horses  and  men  were  dying  around  him,  and  the  Indians 
were  becoming  more  and  more  dangerous.  He  attempted 
to  overawe  a  tribe  of  Indians  near  Natchez  by  saying 
that  he  was  of  supernatural  descent,  and  therefore  de- 
manded of  them  obedience  and  tribute. 

"  You  say  that  you  are  the  child  of  the  Sun,"  replied 
the  chief:  "dry  up  this  river,  and  I  will  believe  you!" 

Ferdinand  de  Soto  could  no  longer  overawe  or  punish. 
His  arrogance  and  his  stubborn  pride  were  now  subdued 
by  a  gloomy  melancholy,  and  his  health  began  to  decline 
under  the  conflict  with  adversity  and  suffering.  He  was 
attacked  by  a  malignant  fever,  during  which  he  was 
neither  cared  for  nor  visited  as  his  state  required.  His 
little  company  had  now  melted  away  to  three  hundred 
men. 

When  he  felt  his  death  approach,  he  called  around  him 
the  remnant  of  his  faithful  followers,  who  obeyed  him  to 
the  last,  and  named  his  successor. 

The  following  day  he  died.  His  soldiers  pronounced 
his  eulogy  by  sorrowing  for  his  loss.  The  priests  chanted 
over  his  body  the  first  requiem  which  was  ever  heard  by 
the  waters  of  the  Mississippi.     In  order  to  conceal  his 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  181 

death,  they  wrapped  his  body  in  a  mantle,  and  in  the 
depth  of  night  bore  it  out  upon  the  Mississippi,  and  sank 
it  silently  in  the  middle  of  the  stream. 

It  was  now  again  May,  and  the  spring  burst  forth  glo- 
rious over  the  Mississippi,  but  De  Soto  rose  up  no  more 
to  meet  it. 

"  The  discoverer  of  the  Mississippi,"  adds  the  historian, 
to  whom  I  am  much  indebted  for  the  above,  "  slept  be- 
neath its  waters.  For  four  years  he  had  wandered  to  and 
fro  over  a  great  portion  of  the  continent  in  search  of  gold, 
but  had  found  nothing  so  remarkable  as  the  place  of  his 
burial." 

Father  Marquette  slumbered  at  the  foot  of  the  altar, 
without  sickness  and  sorrow,  after  a  life  of  peaceful  con- 
quest and  uninterrupted  success  ;  and  Ferdinand  de  Soto, 
slowly  dying  amid  morasses  and  adversities,  that  proud 
heart  the  prey  of  anxiety  and  of  humiliation — what  pic- 
tures they  present !  Has  poetry  any  thing  brighter  than 
the  former,  any  thing  more  gloomy  than  the  latter  ? 

December  21st.  The  Mississippi  flows  gray,  turbid,  and 
broad  ;  still  broader  and  still  more  turbid  it  seems  to  me 
under  this  gray,  chilly,  wintery  sky.  Its  waters  become 
more  and  more  swollen  every  day,  and  the  shores  become 
still  more  flat  and  swampy,  bordered  with  cotton- wood  and 
cane-brake.  Great  blocks  of  timber,  trees,  and  all  kind 
of  things  float  along  the  Mississippi,  all  telling  of  wreck 
and  desolation.  This  great  river  seems  to  me  like  the 
waters  of  the  Deluge,  and  they  bear  along  with  them  a 
vast  register  of  sin.  Our  magnificent  Noah's  Ark,  howev- 
er, more  cosmopolitan  than  its  ancient  predecessor,  floats 
upon  the  great  cosmopolitan  waters  with  an  easy  con- 
science, and  is  such  a  capital  place  altogether,  that,  though 
I  sometimes  think  of  the  Deluge  and  the  Mississippi  reg- 
ister of  sin,  and  of  De  Soto's  fate  in  these  regions,  and 
see  the  impression  of  his  spirit  stamped  upon  the  gloomy 
landscape,  upon  the  gray  earth  and  sky  yet  so  musing,  I 


182  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 


can  not  but  feel  cheerful  of  mood.  I  seem  to  see  myself 
here,  like  a  citizeness  of  the  world,  conveyed  along  by  the 
great  citizen  of  the  world  ;  and  thus  I  know  that  I  shall 
now  become  acquainted  with  its  geographical  history  to 
its  very  close,  and  that  T  shall  see  that  beautiful  Cuba 
and  the  life  of  the  tropics ;  and  thus  I  think — many 
thoughts. 

Every  thing  on  board  is  quiet,  and  all  goes  on  with 
order  and  propriety.  I  spend  the  forenoons  by  myself, 
read  a  little  American  history,  and  in  Buchanan's  "  Jour- 
nal of  Man,"  and  let  my  thoughts  flow  with  the  stream 
forth  into  the  ocean.  The  afternoons  and  evenings  are 
passed  in  company  with  some  agreeable  passengers  on 
board.  At  meal- times  Mr.  H.  always  stands  ready  in  the 
saloon  to  conduct  me  to  table,  and  in  the  morning  extends 
to  me  his  hand  with  a  brotherly  salutation.  He  sits  be- 
side me  at  table,  mentions  the  various  dishes  to  me,  and 
tells  me  what  I  may  eat,  and  always  is  right ;  is  charm- 
ing and  agreeable  in  every  way  ;  reminds  me  often  in  his 
manner  of  our  Captain  G\,  and  resembles  him  also,  inas- 
much as  he  abuses  his  own  head  for  being  badly  furnish- 
ed, while  he  is  possessed  of  a  very  excellent,  acute,  and 
sound  intellect.  How  it  may  be  with  regard  to  his  ac- 
quired knowledge  I  can  not  say,  but  this  I  know,  that 
these  strong  practical  characters,  when  they  are  united  to 
a  warm  heart  and  a  noble  disposition,  are  to  me  at  the 
same  time  especially  a  repose  and  a  refreshment.  A  man 
who,  from  his  own  acquired  property,  purchases  and  fur- 
nishes a  house  for  his  father  and  sister,  is  one  whom  I 
should  like  to  have  for  a  brother ;  but  not  for  the  sake  of 
the  house. 

The  animals,  who  are  both  below  us  and  above  us,  amuse 
me  also,  all  except  the  pigs,  which  I  would  were  all  of 
them  drowned  together  in  the  Mississippi,  because  they 
send  such  repulsive  odors  up  to  our  piazza  every  now  and 
then.     The  great  variety  of  animal  cries  are  not  at  all 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  183 

unpleasing  to  hear  at  a  distance,  and  they  all  look  in  such 
good  condition,  and  are  so  well  off,  that  I  generally  once  a 
day  make  a  round  of  salutation  among  them.  The  oxen 
are  so  fat  that  they  can  hardly  get  up  when  they  have 
laid  themselves  down ;  and  they  are  obliged  to  be  roused 
to  that  every  morning  by  the  keen  caresses  of  the  whip. 

I  must  now  tell  you  about  some  new  acquaintance 
whom  I  have  made  on  board.  First,  two  young  sisters 
from  Vermont,  real  rose-buds  in  their  exterior,  and  with 
souls  of  the  purest  crystal,  genuine  daughters  of  New 
England  even  in  this,  that  though  they  might  live  in  ease 
in  their  own  home,  they  prefer  as  teachers  to  earn  their 
own  bread,  and  thus  obtain  an  independent  life  for  them- 
selves. You  would  be  as  much  fascinated  with  them  as 
I  am.  The  eldest  sister  is  twenty-five,  and  is  now  on  her 
way  to  undertake  the  management  of  a  ladies'  seminary 
in  the  State  of  Mississippi.  The  younger  is  only  seven- 
teen, and  is  going  as  a  pupil  in  the  school  where  her  sister 
is  teacher.  Both  are  most  charming  girls,  and  both  have 
each  their  favorite  brother,  of  whom  they  can  not  say 
enough  in  praise,  and  whose  portraits  they  have  shown 
me.  Their  parents  are  dead.  They  are  here  quite  alone 
on  the  vessel.  Sometimes  they  stand  together  on  the 
piazza,  and  sing  duets  together  very  sweetly. 

The  eldest  is  the  loveliest  type  of  the  young  teacher  of 
the  New  World,  that  young  woman,  who,  although  delicate 
and  slender  in  figure,  and  gifted  with  every  feminine 
grace,  stands  more  steadfastly  upon  her  ground  than  the 
Alps  or  the  pyramids  of  the  earth;  who  understand  Euclid 
and  Algebra  as  well  as  any  master  of  arts,  and  who  un- 
derstands better  than  any  how  to  manage  a  school  of  un- 
manageable boys. 

"I  love  to  rule  little  boys,"  said  Miss  G\,  with  a  smile, 
which  had  a  good  deal  of  conscious  power  mingled  with 
its  amiability.  And  with  this  power  of  goodness  and 
beautiful  womanliness,  she  goes  calmly  to  assume  her  vo- 


184  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 


cation  of  teacher;  but  not  merely  as  the  teacher, but  with 
the  sentiment  of  being  one  of  the  young  mothers  of  hu- 
manity. 

And  I  do  not  know  any  image  more  beautiful.  Such 
young  women  are  the  true  heroines  of  romance  of  our  day. 

When  I  inquired  whence  that  amiable  young  girl  had 
derived  both  her  strength  and  her  gentle  grace,  her  lofty 
view  of  the  nobility  of  life,  and  the  purpose  of  man,  I  was 
presented  with  a  sweet  and  gravely  beautiful  image  of  her 
deceased  mother. 

"I  remember,"  said  she,  as  we  sat  together  one  even- 
ing in  the  twilight,  "I  remember  how  she  used  to  go  out 
with  me  in  the  morning  when  I  was  a  little  girl,  and  wan- 
der over  the  green  hills  while  the  dew  was  yet  on  the 
grass ;  and  how  she  would  show  me  the  little  clover-flow- 
ers on  the  field-turf  which  my  foot  trod,  and  let  me  see 
their  perfect  beauty,  and  taste  how  sweet  they  were  with 
their  honeyed  juice !" 

Bright  tears  shone  in  the  beautiful  eyes  of  the  speaker. 
The  little  clover-flower  has  raised  its  head.  It  had  be- 
come human. 

I  saw  once  more  Hiram  Powers'  American,  but  not 
merely  in  marble,  in  living  reality. 

My  other  agreeable  acquaintance  on  board  is  a  gen- 
tleman between  forty  and  fifty,  with  one  of  those  pure, 
handsome  countenances  which  one  can  not  do  otherwise 
than  put  one's  entire  trust  in,  and  which  remind  me  of 
that  of  our  king,  Grustavus  Adolphus  II.,  from  its  frank- 
ness and  manliness,  although  it  has  less  of  the  warlike  in 
expression.  My  new  friend  is  somewhat  phlegmatic  and 
contemplative.  His  conversation  gives  me  especial  pleas- 
ure. Do  not  be  afraid  if  I  tell  you  that  he  has  lived  long 
in  the  Southern  States  as  a  planter  and  a  slave  owner; 
you  may  see  immediately,  by  his  beautiful  deep  blue 
eyes,  that  he  was  the  best  of  masters  in  the  world.  Are 
you  afraid  that  I  am  in  love  with  him,  and  in  spirit  do 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  185 

you  see  me  give  him  my  hand,  and  settle  down  on  a  cot- 
ton plantation  on  the  Mississippi,  in  the  midst  of  negro 
slaves  ? 

Yes,  if  I  were  younger,  and  if  my  life's  purpose  were 
less  decided  than  it  now  is,  I  confess  that  there  is  here 
and  there  one  of  these  American  gentlemen,  with  their 
energy,  their  cordiality,  and  chivalric  spirit,  who  might 
be  dangerous  to  my  heart.  But  as  it  now  is,  I  receive 
every  sentiment  of  cordial  liking  which  is  evinced  toward 
me,  by  man  or  by  woman,  with  calm  gratitude,  as  a  cream 
on  the  good  food  of  life,  as  the  sunbeam  and  the  spring- 
breeze,  which  makes  the  day  beautiful.  I  seek  not  for 
them,  but  when  they  come,  I  enjoy  them  as  flowers  given 
by  the  hand  of  the  all-good  Father. 

But  now,  as  particularly  regards  this  agreeable  gentle- 
man, he  is  already  married,  and  is  traveling  with  his  fam- 
ily to  Cuba,  where,  on  account  of  the  health  of  his  wife, 
they  will  spend  the  winter,  and  after  that  to  Europe.  His 
wife  is  an  invalid,  but  has  the  same  character  of  serious- 
ness and  gentleness  as  himself.  Both  husband  and  wife 
appear  to  be  sincerely  attached  to  each  other.  Why  should 
such  people  be  slave-owners  ?  or,  rather,  why  could  not  all 
slave-owners  be  such  people  ? 

The  planter's  wife  told  me  that  her  husband  never  was 
able  to  enjoy  real  peace  of  mind  on  the  plantations,  for 
that  the  thought  of  his  slaves,  and  the  wish  to  do  them 
justice,  and  to  treat  them  well,  disturbed  him  day  and 
night;  he  was  always  afraid  of  not  doing  enough  for  them. 

We  are  now  near  Yicksburg,  a  city  of  bad  reputation 
on  the  Mississippi,  but  aTcity  also  which  shows  the  ability 
of  the  North  Americans  for  self-government.  A  few  years 
since  a  band  of  desperate  gamblers  and  adventurers  set- 
tled themselves  down  there.  They  set  up  a  gambling- 
club,  and  decoyed  young  men  thither,  purposely  excited 
quarrels,  and  fought  with  pistols  in  the  streets,  and  even 
in  houses,  and  committed  every  kind  of  outrage.     The 


186  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

wise  men  of  the  city  assembled,  and  announced  to  the 
gamblers  that  they  must  either  vacate  the  city  within 
eight  days,  or  that  they  would  be  seized  and  hanged. 
The  gamblers  treated  the  announcement  with  scorn,  and 
gambled  and  quarreled,  and  had  their  pistol-fights  as  be- 
fore. When  the  eight  days  of  grace  were  past,  the  friends 
of  order  in  the  city  assembled,  seized  them,  and  hanged 
the  one  who  was  the  worst  of  the  set,  and  then,  putting 
the  rest  in  a  boat,  they  turned  them  adrift  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi. Such  summary  treatment  is  called  Lynch-law, 
and  is  the  self-assumed  administration  of  law,  by  a  sense 
of  justice,  where  there  exists  no  ordinary  executive  power 
able  to  administer  the  law  according  to  its  usual  forms. 
After  this  execution,  which  I  believe  occurred  last  year, 
Vicksburg  became  a  creditable  place. 

We  shall  soon  leave  the  region  of  cotton  for  that  of 
sugar.  But  when  shall  we  arrive  at  the  region  of  sum- 
mer?    It  is  constantly  cold  and  cheerless. 

December  22d.  Now  we  are  there !  Now  we  are  there ! 
and  summer  breezes  and  sunshine  surround  us !  But — 
but  I  must  tell  you  consecutively  that  which  has  formed 
a  turning-point  in  my  whole  state  of  feeling. 

This  is  the  seventh  day  of  my  journey  down  the  Mis- 
sissippi. WTien  I  came  out  on  the  piazza  in  the  morning, 
I  felt  as  if  I  were  in  an  enchanted  world.  The  sweetest 
summer  breezes  caressed  me ;  the  softest  blue  heaven  lay 
over  the  Mississippi,  and  airy,  open,  cultivated  fields  on 
its  banks ;  snowy  masses  of  summer-cloud  were  chased  by 
the  warm  breeze;  and  upon  the  verdant  meadows  which 
covered  the  shores  shone  out  lovely  habitations,  standing 
in  groves  of  orange-trees,  shrubberies  of  roses,  cypresses, 
and  cedars.  An  indescribably  mild  and  delicious  life  of 
beauty  breathed  in  every  thing  and  over  every  thing. 
Every  thing  was  changed.  We  had,  below  Memphis,  en- 
tered the  region  of  sugar,  or  the  country  in  which  the 
sugar-cane  is  cultivated,  as  well  as  cotton  and  maize.    We 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  187 

had  passed  Natchez,  where  formerly  a  powerful  Indian 
tribe  had  worshiped  the  sun,  and  maintained  a  perpetual 
fire,  a  place  with  bloody  memories.  We  had  left  the  city 
of  the  bloody  memories  behind  us,  we  had  left  behind  us 
the  States  of  Mississippi  and  Arkansas.  We  were  now  in 
Louisiana,  the  limits  of  which  embraced  both  shores  of  the 
river.  We  were  speeding  into  the  bosom  of  the  South-, 
and  it  received  us  with  a  warm  heart.  So  I  felt  it,  and 
my  own  heart  expanded  itself  to  every  gentle  power  of 
life  and  of  nature.  I  sat  silently  aft  on  the  piazza  the 
whole  forenoon,  in  a  sort  of  quiet  intoxication  ,of  enjoy- 
ment, inhaling  the  delicious  atmosphere  and  the  southern 
landscape,  thrilled  with  the  enchanting  aspect  of  heaven 
and  earth,  and  the  indescribable  soft  mild  air  which  was 
diffused  through  the  infinite  between  them. 

It  was  noon.  The  air  became  more  and  more  delicious, 
and  more  and  more  animated  became  the  scenes  on  the 
river-banks.  Caravans  of  black  men  and  women  were 
seen  driving  out  from  the  planter's  house  to  the  fields. 
After  them  came  one  or  two  buggies  or  cabriolets,  in  which 
were  probably  the  overseers  or  the  masters  themselves.  I 
gazed  on  the  whole  scene  in  that  spirit  of  human  love,  in 
which  to  keep  one's  self,  one  believes,  in  good  humor,  the 
best  of  all  men,  and  in  which  one  endeavors  to  see  every 
thing  and  all  circumstances  on  the  sunny  side. 

Two  hours  later  I  still  sat  aft  on  the  piazza,  and  inhaled 
the  same  mild,  delicious  atmosphere,  still  beheld  the  same 
scene  of  southern  beauty,  but  gazed  upon  it  with  a  heart 
full  of  bitterness.  Yes,  for  a  dark  picture  had  been  un- 
folded before  my  gaze — a  picture  which  I  never  shall  for- 
get ;  which  perpetually,  like  a  spectre  of  the  abyss,  will 
step  between  me  and  the  memory  of  that  enchanting  veil 
which  one  moment  captivated  and  darkened  my  vision. 

I  sat  and  gazed  upon  that  beautiful  scene  as  one  looks 
at  the  scene  of  a  theatre.  I  enjoyed  with  childish  delight 
the  decorations.     Then  came  my  new  friend,  the  planter, 


188  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

and  seated  himself  in  an  arm-chair  on  the  piazza.  "We 
spoke  a  few  words  about  the  deliciousness  of  the  air,  which 
he  enjoyed  as  much  as  I  did.  Then  we  sat  silently  con- 
templating the  scenery  of  the  shores.  We  saw  the  car- 
avans of  slaves  and  their  overseers  proceeding  over  the 
fields.  I  said  to  my  neighbor  in  that  spirit  of  human  love 
which  I  have  mentioned, 

"There  is  a  great  deal  more  happiness  and  comfort  in 
this  life  (the  slaves'  life)  than  one  commonly  imagines." 

The  planter  turned  to  me  his  beautiful  head  with  a 
glance  w,hich  I  shall  never  forget ;  there  was  astonish- 
ment, almost  reproach  in  it,  and  a  profound  melancholy. 

"Oh!"  said  he,  in  a  low  voice,  "you  know  nothing  of 
that  which  occurs  on  these  shores ;  if  you  did,  you  would 
not  think  so.  Here  is  much  violence  and  much  suffering ! 
At  this  season  in  particular,  and  from  the  time  when  the 
cotton  is  ready  to  pluck,  a  great  deal  of  cruelty  is  practiced 
on  the  plantations  around  here.  There  are  plantations 
here  where  the  whip  never  rests  during  all  these  months. 
You  can  have  no  idea  of  such  flogging." 

I  will  not  repeat  those  scenes  which  the  planter  related 
to  me,  scenes  which  he  himself  had  witnessed  of  violence, 
cruelty,  and  suffering  during  more  than  fourteen  years, 
abominations  which  finally  drove  him  thence,  which  drove 
him  to  sell  his  plantation,  and  leave  the  slave  states  for- 
ever. I  will  merely  introduce  some  of  this  excellent 
man's  words.* 

"I  have  known  men  and  women  who  were  actual  dev- 
ils toward  their  slaves — whose  pleasure  it  was  to  torment 
them. 

"  People  can  flog  a  negro  almost  to  death,  and  yet  not 
let  a  drop  of  blood  flow.     The  strip  of  cowhide  which  is 

*  I  should  not,  however,  now  publish  them  if  I  did  not  know  that  he 
is  now  safe  from  all  the  unpleasantness  which  his  integrity  possibly 
might  have  drawn  upon  him,  did  I  not  consider  that  by  communicating 
them  I  am  performing  his  last  will  and— a  higher  will  also. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  189 

used  in  doors  can  cause  the  most  horrible  torture  without 
any  mark  being  left. 

"  Women  are  not  unfrequently  the  most  horrible  tor- 
mentors of  the  house-slaves,  and  I  would  rather  be  one 
of  the  field -hands  than  the  house-slave  of  a  passionate 
woman.  The  institution  of  slavery  seems  to  change  the 
very  nature  of  woman. 

"  Slavery  is  destructive  of  the  white.  I  have  known 
young  men  and  women,  amiable  in  all  respects,  of  the 
most  attractive  manners  and  dispositions,  but  toward  their 
slaves  they  were  unjust  and  severe. 

"  There  are  naturally  exceptions.  There  are  good  and 
tender  masters  and  mistresses,  but  they  are  few.  The 
rule  is,  that  slavery  blinds  and  hardens  the  mind  of  the 
slave-owner  from  childhood  upward. 

"  The  state  of  things  is  considerably  improved  of  late 
years,  and  still  is  improving.  Light  is  beginning  to  en- 
ter this  country ;  people  are  no  longer  afraid  of  speaking. 
A  few  years  ago,  if  a  person  had  published  a  seventh  part 
of  what  I  have  now  told  you,  he  would  have  been  shot 
without  any  further  process.  The  slave-owner  now  ac- 
knowledges that  the  eye  of  the  public  is  directed  to  him. 
It  makes  him  more  careful.  Slaves,  for  the  last  ten  or 
twelve  years,  have  been  better  clothed  and  fed  in  this 
part  of  the  country  than  they  used  to  be  ;  but  sadly  too 
much  injustice  and  sadly  too  much  cruelty  exists  still, 
and  must  always  exist,  so  long  as  this  institution  lasts. 
And  it  is  my  conviction  that  it  will  soon  become  "  the 
question'1 — the  question  of  life  and  death  within  the 
American  Union. 

"  Even  now  a  man  makes  no  demur  about  shooting 
down  a  negro  whom  he  suspects  of  intending  to  run  away, 
and  the  law  is  silent  on  all  such  acts  of  violence.  I  have 
seen  many  slaves  severely  wounded  from  having  been  shot 
at  under  such  circumstances,  but  one  only  killed. 

"Passion  and  insanity  in  the  treatment  of  slaves  are 
common. 


190  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

"  The  law  is  no  protection  to  the  slave.  It  is  nominal- 
ly so,  but  it  is  not  any  actual  defense.  The  slave  suffers 
from  his  master;  the  lawyers  shut  their  eyes  to  the  affair 
as  long  as  they  can ;  and  the  negro  can  not  be  a  witness 
in  a  court  of  justice. 

"  They  talk  of  public  opinion ;  but  public  opinion  is 
here,  as  yet,  for  the  most  part  the  product  of  demagogues. 
And  the  cotton  interest  is  the  only  conscience.  Many 
people  see  all  this  as  very  wrong,  and  deplore  it,  but 
they  are  silent,  from  the  fear  of  involving  themselves  in 
trouble. 

"  The  festivals  of  the  slaves  are  for  the  most  part  a  fic- 
tion. On  some  plantations  they  are  allowed  to  dance  at 
Christmas,  if  the  cotton  is  picked  and  the  sugar  is  ground ; 
but  when  the  harvest  is  late,  as  it  is  this  year,  the  festi- 
val is  put  off  to  eternity,  and  for  the  greater  number  it 
always  remains  there.  If  the  harvest  has  been  good  and 
the  work  is  done,  then  the  negroes  may  sometimes  dance. 

"  Hitherto  no  religious  instruction  has  been  allowed  to 
the  slave  on  the  plantations,  nor  is  it  even  to  this  hour. 
But  God  knows  how  it  has  happened,  some  of  these  poor 
creatures  have,  notwithstanding,  got  hold  of  some  of  the 
truths  of  the  Gospel,  and  you  can  scarcely  imagine  the 
eagerness  with  which  they  listen  to  every  word.  I  know 
two  plantations  where  the  slaves  have  regular  Christian 
instruction,  and  it  is  very  probable  that  this  may  spread 
and  produce  a  change  in  the  relationship  between  slave 
and  master. 

"  The  time  is  perhaps  not  far  distant  when  public  opin- 
ion will  become  a  real  defense  to  the  slave,  and  more  so 
than  law  can  ever  be. 

"People  are  becoming  compelled  to  more  justice  and 
gentleness  toward  their  slaves,  for  their  own  safety.  I 
have  known  times  here  when  there  was  not  a  single  plant- 
er who  had  a  calm  night's  rest ;  at  that  time  they  never 
lay  down  to  sleep  without  a  brace  of  loaded  pistols  at 
their  side. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  !9! 

"  If  people  would  only  attempt  to  treat  the  slave  with 
justice  and  with  reason,  they  would  be  astonished  at  the 
results  of  these  methods.  The  negro  is  in  a  high  degree 
susceptible  of  kindness  and  justice.  He  is  disposed  to 
subordination  under  any  real  superior,  and  if  the  whites 
would  avail  themselves  of  sueh  means,  they  would  be 
able  to  govern  the  negro,  or,  at  all  events,  he  would  work 
for  him  without  the  whip. 

"  I  never  allowed  the  whip  to  be  used  on  my  plantation 
to  drive  them  to  work ;  there  was  no  need  of  it.  Justice, 
regularity,  reason,  sufficed  with  them ;  and  they  worked 
well.  I  only  allowed  the  whip  to  be  used  (and  one  can 
not,  in  the  present  uncultivated  condition  of  the  negroes, 
do  without  the  whip  on  the  plantations)  as  a  punishment 
for  theft  and  quarrels  ;  but  for  driving  them  to  their  work 
it  is  not  at  all  necessary. 

"  I  am  convinced  that  slaves  might  become  free  serv- 
ants, and,  as  such,  would  work  very  well.  All  those 
dangers  which  are  predicted  in  emancipation  are,  in  my 
opinion,  mere  dreams.  If  emancipation  were  to  take 
place  gradually  and  wisely,  it  would  then  proceed  with- 
out danger  or  difficulty.  The  experiments  which  some 
persons,  and  among  these  Mr.  Macdonald  and  Mr.  Hen- 
derson, have  tried  with  their  slaves  has  proved  this. 

"Education,  accompanied  by  a  prospect  of  emancipa- 
tion, would  be  the  right  means. 

"  But  a  great  many  things  must  be  changed  here  be- 
fore such  a  thought  as  this  becomes  general.  I  know 
men  of  high  religious  professions  who  have  been  the  most 
cruel  of  slave-owners. 

"And  if  I  were  to  divulge  all  that  I  have  seen,  and 
know  has  taken  place,  and  still  takes  place  in  these  states, 
it  would  be  enough  to  make  the  hair  stand  on  end  on  the 
head  of  every  right-minded  person. 

"The  histories  of  fugitive  slaves,  some  of  which  I  have 
read,  are  not  always  to  be  relied  upon.     I  often  see  that 


192  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

they  fabulate,  and  there  is  no  need  of  fabulation  to  make 
the  condition  of  the  slave  horrible.  The  reality  is  worse 
than  any  fiction.  And  if  I  were  a  slave,  I  should — oh,  I 
should  certainly — leap  into  the  river,  and  put  an  end  to 
my  life  !" 

These  words,  and  the  narratives  with  which  they  were 
interspersed  of  fearful  things  which  have  occurred,  and 
are  still  of  daily  occurrence  on  these  shores,  mingled  them- 
selves like  a  poisoned  wind  with  the  summer  breezes 
which  still  caressed  me.  I  beheld  the  old  slave  hunted 
to  death  because  he  dared  to  visit  his  wife — beheld  him 
mangled,  beaten,  recaptured,  fling  himself  into  the  water 
of  the  Black  River,  over  which  he  was  retaken  into  the 
power  of  his  hard  master.     And  the  law  was  silent. 

I  beheld  a  young  woman  struck,  for  a  hasty  word,  upon 
the  temples,  so  that  she  dropped  down  dead  !  And  the 
law  was  silent. 

I  heard  the  law,  through  its  jury,  adjudicate  between  a 
white  man  and  a  black,  and  sentence  the  latter  to  be 
flogged  when  the  former  only  was  guilty.  And  they  who 
were  honest  among  the  jurymen  in  vain  opposed  the  ver- 
dict ! 

I  beheld  here,  on  the  shore  of  the  Mississippi,  only  a 
few  months  since,  a  young  negro  girl  fly  from  the  mal- 
treatment of  her  master,  and  he  a  professor  of  religion, 
and  fling  herself  into  the  river. 

I  saw  multitudes  of  captives,  men  and  women,  con- 
demned to  labor  early  and  late,  deprived  of  every  ray  of 
that  light  which  could  give  hope  to  captivity,  and  pre- 
vented from  hearing  the  voice  of  the  Savior,  which  says, 
"  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden," 
debarred  from  all  this  by  men  who  call  themselves  Chris- 
tians. But  forgive  me,  my  Agatha!  Why  should  your 
eyes  be  tormented  with  these  gloomy  pictures  ?  I  would 
that  I  could  avoid  seeing  them.  But  the  effect  of  them  will 
never  leave  me.     There  was  an  end  of  all  my  enjoyment 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  193 

of  the  air  and  the  beauty  of  the  South.  I  seemed  to  hate 
my  own  kind  who  could  perpetrate  such  cruelties  and 
such  injustice.  I  hated  those  who  could  gloss  all  this 
over  for  the  interests  of  trade.  I  was  indignant  with  my- 
self for  having  wished  to  spare  myself,  to  blind  myself,  to 
what  I  must  have  known  would  be  the  inevitable  conse- 
quences of  the  institution  of  slavery.  Yes,  I  ought  to  have 
known  it;  but  I  thought  that  it  now  no  longer  could  be  so! 

Gfeorgia  and  Carolina  have,  however,  allowed  the  intro- 
duction of  Christianity  among  the  slaves.  I  had  heard 
in  Georgia  and  Carolina  the  children  of  Africa  burst  forth 
in  songs  of  praise  of  their  Redeemer  ! 

But  here,  in  the  beautiful  southern  land  of  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley,  it  was  worse  then  heathenism  !  Mississippi, 
thou  great  Noah's  flood,  now  do  I  know  thy  history  to 
the  end. 

But  in  the  midst  of  its  darkest  career,  I  have  seen  the 
conscience  of  the  South  glance  brightly  upward  in  a  pure 
eye,  directed  toward  heaven  in  a  warm  and  honest  heart; 
and  this  is  my  consolation  and  my  hope.  The  sunshine 
on  the  Mississippi  is  no  mere  lie.  "  Darkness  was  upon 
the  face  of  the  deep,  but  the  Spirit  of  Grod  moved  over  the 
waters." 

On  the  Mississippi 

We  have  passed  Baton  Rouge,  as  the  political  capital 
of  Louisiana  is  called,  situated  upon  a  high  bluff,  upon 
the  lofty  shore  of  the  Mississippi.  A  fine  Capitol  com- 
mands the  little  city,  and  a  magnificent  state  prison,  just 
completed,  stands  with  its  foundations  in  the  waters  of 
the  Noah's  flood. 

The  Mississippi  is  at  this  point  very  broad.  There  are 
in  the  river  sand -banks  and  verdant  islands.  Its  waters 
are  now  clearer  ;  the  sun  shines  ;  the  scenery  of  the  shores 
is  pleasing  and  quiet :  plantations,  orange  groves,  white 
slave  villages  amid  the  green  fields,  extensive  views  be- 
neath the  mild  heavens  of  summer.     The  river  is  full  of 

Vol.  IT. — T 


194  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

vessels,  steamers,  boats,  and  barges.  We  are  approaching 
the  gay  city  of  New  Orleans. 

I  had  some  conversation  to-day  with  our  stewardess,  a 
pretty,  well-disposed  mulatto-girl.  I  found  her  in  her  lit- 
tle cabin  busily  studying  a  large  alphabet.  I  had  seen 
her  twice  before  so  employed.  "  The  steward,"  she  said, 
"  had  promised  to  teach  her  to  read  in  secret.  He  could 
read,  that  he  could."  She  longed  so  much  to  be  able  to 
read.  I  found  her  one  day  in  our  saloon,  standing  before 
the  open  Bible,  which  always  lies  upon  the  table  there.  I 
asked  her  what  she  was  doing.  "Oh,  this  book,"  said 
she ;  "  I  turn  and  I  turn  over  its  leaves,  and  wish  I  under- 
stood what  is  on  them.  I  try  and  try ;  I  should  be  so 
happy  if  I  could  read,  but  I  can  not." 

We  are  approaching  New  Orleans,  "  that  gay  city."  In 
a  couple  of  hours  we  shall  be  there.  All  the  animals  in 
Noah's  Ark  make  themselves  heard. 

New  Orleans,  La  Fayette  Square,  Dec.  25th. 

Far  in  the  South,  but  without  sun,  at  least  for  the 
present.  But  it  shone  brightly  as  we  arrived  at  the 
Crescent  City,  which  in  the  form  of  a  half  moon  stands 
upon  a  broad  tongue  of  land  between  the  Mississippi  and 
Lake  Pontchartrain,  into  which  great  inland  sea  the  wa- 
ters of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  enter. 

No  less  than  three  steamers  had  been  blown  up  a  short 
time  before  our  arrival;  one  of  them  was  quite  new,  and 
was  out  on  an  expedition  of  pleasure,  with  several  of  the 
most  wealthy  people  of  New  Orleans  on  board.  Many  of 
these  were  very  severely  hurt,  and  two  killed. 

Our  Noah's  Ark,  however,  has  borne  us  and  all  the  ani- 
mals safely  to  land. 

The  harbor  which  we  entered  was  beautiful  and  invit- 
ing in  its  crescent  form,  but  the  roadstead  was  bad,  and 
the  quay  of  wood,  and  ill  built. 

On  the  arm  of  my  faithful  cavalier,  Lerner  H.,  I  went 
on  shore,  and  up  to  a  magnificent  building  resembling  the 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  295 

Pantheon  at  Rome,  shining  out  white  with  its  splendid 
columns,  not  of  marble,  but  of  stucco.  This  was  the  Ho- 
tel St.  Charles,  and  here  we  at  first  took  up  our  quarters. 

But  when  I  found  that  for  a  cold  little  room,  with  an 
immense  bed,  up  three  flights  of  stairs,  with  the  privilege 
of  the  great  saloon,  where  I  would  not  go  if  I  could  help 
it,  and  the  privilege  of  eating  a  variety  of  meals,  which  I 
could  not  eat  without  making  myself  ill,  and  at  hours  that 
did  not  suit  me — when  I  found  that  for  all  this  magnifi- 
cence I  must  pay  three  dollars  per  day,  without  being 
able  with  it  all  to  enjoy  one  pleasant  hour,  I  became  anx- 
ious to  find  another  home. 

And  another  home  I  soon  found,  through  the  kind  care 
of  my  kind  countryman,  Mr.  Charles  Schmidt,  brother  to 
the  Justitierraed.  And  this  morning  Lerner  H.  brought 
me  hither  in  a  carriage,  amid  rain  and  cold.  I  am  now 
living  in  a  private  boarding-house,  with  a  respectable 
widow.  I  have  a  large,  handsome  room,  carpeted,  and 
with  a  fire-place,  and  two  large  windows  looking  out  into 
a  market-place  planted  with  young  trees  still  green,  and 
with  a  grass-plot  in  the  centre.  This  is  La  Fayette 
Square.  It  is  a  beautiful  and  very  quiet  place.  I  es- 
teem myself  quite  happy  in  my  dwelling,  for  which  I  pay, 
together  with  my  board,  only  ten  dollars  per  week,  which 
is  low  for  New  Orleans. 

I  became  acquainted  in  St.  Charles's  Hotel  with  two 
persons  who  may  hereafter  become  more  to  me  than  mere 
acquaintance ;  these  are  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gr.  They  are  from 
Cincinnati,  but  are  residing,  like  Mr.  H.,  through  the  win- 
ter in  New  Orleans,  where  both  gentlemen  have  business. 
Lerner  H.  had  prepared  me  to  like  Mrs.  Gr.  very  much. 

When,  on  the  morning  after  my  arrival,  I  went  down 
to  breakfast  in  the  great  eating-hall,  no  one  was  as  y«t 
there,  and  I  set  myself  to  guess  my  new  friends'  friend 
from  those  who  entered. 

I  beheld  ladies  enter  one  aftler  another,  all  with  dresses 


196  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

made  high  to  the  throat,  little  collars,  without  caps,  and 
all  dressed  as  much  alike  as  if  they  had  heen  modeled 
from  one  block;  all  were  delicate,  thin,  or  rather  dried 
up,  and  looked,  it  seemed  to  me,  dried  up  inwardly  as 
well  as  outwardly.  But  in  this  I  might  be  mistaken. 
Certain  it  is,  I  thirsted  for  a  little  life,  a  little  individual- 
ity in  the  exterior  as  well  as  the  interior.  The  Quaker- 
esses are  also  all  alike  in  costume.  But  what  a  clearly 
impressed  individuality  one  reads  in  their  countenances! 
Here,  again,  it  was  uniformity  devoid  of  character;  the 
simplicity  was  monotonous  and  tiresome.  I  had  not  dis- 
covered Mrs.  G-. 

I  said  so  to  Lerner  H.  as  he  sat  beeide  me  at  breakfast. 

"  Turn  round,"  said  he ;'  "  she  sits  at  the  table  behind 
you  !"     (N.B. — We  ate  at  long,  narrow  tables.) 

I  turned  round,  and  met  a  gentle,  oval,  somewhat  pale 
countenance,  and  a  pair  of  deep,  beautiful  eyes,  a  clear 
forehead,  over  which  the  dark  brown  hair  lay  smooth  on 
the  temples  in  bands.  That  was  Mrs.  G-.  She  was  dress- 
ed like  all  the  rest  of  the  ladies,  but  in  black  silk ;  her 
hair  was  put  up  in  the  same  style  as  the  others,  but  still 
there  was  a  great  difference.  She  seemed  to  me  a  little 
stiff,  but  not  dry ;  mild  and  noble. 

I  made  a  closer  acquaintance  with  her  on  Christmas 
Eve,  and  on  the  afternoon  of  Christmas  Day,  which  I  spent 
in  company  in  the  great  saloon  with  a  portion  of  the  pop- 
ulation of  St.  Charles's  Hotel,  and  she  cordially  pleased 
me.  She  has  those  refinecT,  regular  features  which  belong 
to  American  female  beauty,  and  besides  this,  there  is  a 
quiet  demeanor,  that  modest,  dignified  grace  which  one 
often  does  not  meet  with  among  the  beauties  of  the  New 
World.  Mr.  Gr.,  who  is  a  good  deal  older  than  his  hand- 
some wife,  has  an  animated,  strongly-marked  counte- 
nance ;  he  is  a  warm  Swedenborgian,  and  I  foresee  that 
we  shall  have  some  little  contentions  on  this  subject ;  but 
all  in  good  part,  for  he  is  evidently  a  good  Swedenborgian. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  j  97 

There  was  dancing  in  the  great  saloon.  A  young,  hand- 
some, and  evidently  consumptive  girl  waltzed  with  as 
much  zeal  as  if  she  would  make  an  end  of  herself ;  and 
her  partner  and  lover  helped  her  most  loyally.  I  could 
not  feel  gay.  I  thought  of  Christmas  in  Sweden  and  at 
home.  Here  they  did  not  understand  how  to  celebrate 
Christmas.  In  Sweden,  however,  we  do  understand  this 
festival. 

I  went  to  church  on  Christmas  Day,  to  a  grand  church, 
the  darkly-painted  windows  of  which  deprived  it  of  all 
light,  and  heard  a  dry,  soulless  sermon.  I  was  not  edified, 
and  felt  as  if  New  Orleans  was  a  dry  and  wearisome  place. 
I  thought  of  the  Christmas  early  morning  service  in  our 
country  churches,  of  the  sledgings  thither  in  the  gay  morn- 
ing twilight,  through  pine  woods,  along  the  fresh  snow  ; 
I  thought  of  the  little  cottages  in  the  woods,  shining  out 
with  their  Christmas  candles  ;  of  the  train  of  small  peas- 
ant sledges,  with  their  bells  ringing  merrily  by  the  way ; 
of  the  beautiful  church,  with  its  dark  background  of  wood 
beaming  with  all  its  lighted  meadows ;  of  the  cheerful 
scene  of  light  and  purple  within  it ;  those  good  country 
folk  in  their  warm  costun\e  ;  I  saw  the  representative  of 
the  Diet  of  Thyreste  enter  in  his  wolf-skin  cloak  at  the 
church  door ;  I  saw  the  children  with  their  beaming 
glances  ;  I  heard  the  animated,  powerful  hymn,  "  Hail  to 
thee,  lovely  morning  hour !"  Yes,  that  was  Christmas  life 
and  Christmas  joy ! 

In  New  Orleans,  Christmas  is  no  Christmas.  I  felt  as 
if  I  were  in  a  heathen  country. 

On  the  evening  of  Christmas  Day  I  was  amused  by  a 
fine-speaking,  original,  elderly  lady — a  somewhat  unusual 
personage  among  the  women  of  the  New  World.  Mrs.  D. 
is  worldly,  but  witty  and  peculiar  with  a  vengeance  ;  does 
not  bend  to  the  world,  but  has  the  courage  to  do  what  she 
likes  even  in  dress.  And  her  red  velvet  blowse,  which, 
without  a  girdle,  inwrapped  her  like  a  mantle,  whether 


198  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

it  is  becoming  or  not  in  company,  is  very  becoming  to  her 
tall,  strong  figure,  which  had  quite  a  regal  appearance, 
and  was  a  refreshing  sight  to  me.     Thanks,  Mrs.  D. 

If  it  clears  up  in  the  afternoon  or  in  the  morning,  Mr. 
H.  will  take  me  to  see  the  slave-market,  which  is  one  of 
the  great  sights  of  "  the  gay  city."  I  begin  now  to  have 
a  presentiment  of  why  I  must  go  down  the  Mississippi, 
and  why  I  must  visit  New  Orleans. 

December  21th.  Three  days'  rain  and  bad  weather  in 
New  Orleans — each  day  worse  than  the  preceding,  with 
sleet  and  cold.  But  I  am  quite  well,  my  little  heart, 
amuse  myself  in  my  excellent,  cheerful  room,  and  have 
to-day  again  one  of  those  inward  spring  days  which  some- 
times, in  the  midst  of  winter,  astonish  me  with  overflow- 
ing life,  when  every  thing  within  my  soul  lives  and  grows 
in  an  infinite  sunshine ;  when  every  thought  bursts  forth 
into  blossom,  and,  as  it  were,  produces  abundant  harvests, 
in  a  manner  which  astonishes  and  enchants  me ;  when 
the  head  and  breast  feel  too  narrow  for  the  emotions  and 
the  presentiments  which  are  agitating  within,  and  will, 
as  it  were,  burst  forth ;  when  I  feel  myself  to  be  a  citizen 
of  the  world,  and  am  ready  to  embrace  the  whole  world  ; 
when  I  live — live — live  !  But  enough  of  this.  I  can  not, 
nevertheless,  describe  the  animating  impulse  within  me. 

I  embrace  you  and  mamma  in  the  fullness  of  my  heart, 
and  now  close  and  send  off  this  letter,  for  I  believe  it  is 
long  since  I  last  wrote  home. 

P.S. — December  28th.  At  length  a  bright  and  beautiful 
day,  after  three  days  of  incessant  bad  weather.  And  now 
one  must  be  up  and  doing — visit  asylums,  schools,  pris- 
ons, and  drive  out  to  plantations.  I  was  yesterday,  in  the 
midst  of  the  rain,  surprised  by  a  visit  from  unknown 
friends  in  New  Orleans,  warm,  cordial  people,  so  that  it 
made  me  very  happy.  The  heartfelt  kindness  of  one 
young,  amiable  girl  affected  me  to  tears. 

My  new  friends  came  with  violets  and  invitations  to  go 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  jgg 

out  with  them  to  a  plantation  up  the  Mississippi,  where 
they  would  show  me  "  what  slavery  really  is  ;"  thus  speak 
they  who  merely  see  it,  or  choose  to  see  it,  as  it  is  in  one 
or  two  oases  under  good  masters.  But  I  now  know  enough 
not  to  let  myself  be  beguiled  even  by  good  people  to  be- 
lieve what  a  young,  handsome  gentleman  (either  stupid 
or  false)  assured  me  last  evening,  that  the  slaves  in  Amer- 
ica are  "  as  happy  as  can  be  !"  My  new  friends  were  ev- 
idently kind  and  warm-hearted  people,  and  forgot  how  oft- 
en others  are  different. 

When  I  write  next  I  shall  tell  you  more  about  the  free 
people,  and  the  slave  people,  and  slavery  in  the  gay  city 
of  New  Orleans. 


LETTER    XXXI. 

New  Orleans,  Louisiana,  Jan.  1,  1851. 
Good-morning  !  A  good  new  year,  my  sweet  sister,  my 
sweet  friend  !  May  the  morning  of  the  new  year  shine 
brighter  on  you  than  it  does  on  me,  and  the  far  North  af- 
ford you  a  clear  sun  above  the  snowy,  gleaming  earth. 
Ah !  a  quiet  sun-bright  winter's  day  with  us,  when  all 
the  trees  are  white  over  with  snow,  and  every  thing  shines 
and  gleams  kindly  and  cheerfully  in  that  pure  air — that 
air  which  is  so  light  and  invigorating  to  breathe — then  to 
ramble  forth,  as  I  so  often  have  done  at  this  season,  across 
the  fiords  and  fields  of  the  park,  how  glorious  it  was  !  But 
here,  in  this  glorious  South,  it  now  rains  and  pours  with 
rain  incessantly  !  The  beautiful  day  on  which  I  last 
wrote  had  no  successor.  To-day  we  have  sleet,  and  alto- 
gether bad  weather.  The  young  trees  on  the  La  Fayette 
Market  look  quite  melancholy.  The  leaves  hang  on  them 
like  tatters.  But  I  am  very  comfortable  in  my  warm, 
light,  excellent  room,  and  there  shines  upon  my  chimney- 
piece  a  large  bough  full  of  the  very  sweetest — sweet  in 


200  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

every  way — little  oranges ;  and  beside  them  stand  two 
large  bottles  of  the  genuine  Louisiana  grape-juice — New- 
year's  gifts  from  kind  new  friends,  who  have  brought  sum- 
mer and  warmth  into  room  and  heart.  I  have  sun  enough 
on  this  new  year,  yes,  and  even  a  little  more,  to  give  away 
in  ease  any  body  wanted  it. 

But  I  must  tell  you  something  about  Bushkiton  !  Bush- 
kiton  is  a  festival  which  was  celebrated  annually  by  the 
Indians  of  the  Mississippi  in  these  southern  regions,  when 
the  Europeans  first  intruded  themselves  here.  It  appears 
to  me  the  most  remarkable  of  all  the  festivals  of  the  North 
American  Indians,  and  some  of  its  spiritual  meaning  might 
have  been  ingrafted  beneficially  upon  the  white  race, 
which  has  now  seized  upon  the  soil  of  the  red  man. 

This  festival  occurred  at  the  close  of  the  year,  and  con- 
tinued eight  days.  Each  day  had  its  separate  ceremony ; 
but  the  principal  features  of  the  whole  ceremonial  were 
fasting,  purification,  and  self-contemplation.  It  is  said, 
in  the  narrative  describing  it,  "  that  on  these  days  (the 
third,  fifth,  and  seventh,  if  I  recollect  right)  the  men  sat 
silent  in  the  market-place."  Ashes  played  a  principal 
part  in  the  purifications ;  and  it  appears  to  me  worthy  of 
remark,  that  these  ashes  were  to  be  conveyed  to  the  war- 
riors by  young  maidens  who  were  still  half  children.  The 
food,  also,  of  which  they  partook  during  their  fasts,  was 
to  be  presented  to  them  by  these  childish  hands.  The 
men — for  the  women  are  not  mentioned  at  all — held  also 
nocturnal  dances  by  the  light  of  the  fire,  during  which 
they  washed  themselves  with  warm  water,  in  which  cer- 
tain herbs  and  roots  of  a  medicinal  quality  had  been  boil- 
ed. The  seventh  night's  dance  appears  most  symbolical 
and  significant.  On  the  seventh  day  the  men  again  "  sit 
silent  in  the  market-place."  The  eighth  is  the  last  great 
day  of  purification.  The  men  then  ascend  a  bank  by  the 
river,  and  throw  themselves  headlong  into  it,  diving  down 
many  times.     After  this  they  come  out  and  reassume  their 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  201 

every-day  garments,  manners,  and  occupations.  It  is  re- 
markable, however,  that  after  this  time  every  thing  which 
occurred  before  it  is  regarded  as  not  having  been.  All 
neglect,  all  quarrels,  great  or  small,  between  individuals 
of  the  nation,  are  to  be  forgotten,  and  life  is  regarded  as 
if  new  born.  Any  one  who,  after  this  time,  calls  to  re- 
membrance any  annoyance  which  occurred  before  it,  or 
evinces  any  grudge,  or  cherishes  ill  will,  must  pay  a  fine. 
Bushkiton  returns  every  year  as  a  festival  of  reconciliation 
and  renovation.  How  excellent,  if  all  bitter  memories 
whatever  could  be  washed  away  by  this  Indian  Lethe ! 
And  who  shall  deny  but  that  Bushkiton,  with  its  inward 
desire  and  outward  labor,  might  not  be  a  good  help  for 
such  purpose. 

We  civilized  people  should  do  well  by  adopting  the 
Bushkiton  of  the  savages.  And  there  is  a  custom  in  the 
United  States,  especially  in  their  large  cities,  and  it  is  said 
to  flourish  in  New  York  and  New  Orleans,  which  proba- 
bly may  have  its  origin  in  the  Indians'  feast  of  reconcilia- 
tion. In  these  cities,  New-year's  day  is  regarded,  in  some 
sort,  as  a  day  of  renovation  and  reconciliation.  New- 
year's  visits  are  the  means  made  use  of.  If  any  quarrel 
has  arisen  during  the  past  year  between  two  individuals 
or  between  two  families,  and  if  they  have  ceased  to  see 
one  another  or  to  speak  to  one  another,  a  visit  paid  on 
New-year's  day  is  sufficient,  without  any  further  expla- 
nation, to  make  all  amicable  again  between  them.  And 
both  sides  are  silently  agreed  to  forget  all  that  is  past,  and 
to  let  life  begin  anew. 

The  ladies  of  "la  haute  volee"  do  not  go  out  on  this 
day,  but  sit  at  home,  splendidly  dressed  in  their  drawing- 
rooms,  which  are  decorated  for  the  occasion,  to  receive 
gentlemen,  who  pay  complimentary  visits  ;  and  I  have 
heard  it  said  that  many  a  gentleman  who  is  blessed  with 
a  numerous  acquaintance  in  good  families  makes  himself 
quite  ill  by  incessantly  driving  about  on  this  day  from  one 

12 


202  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 


house  to  another,  rushing  up  steps  and  down  steps  many 
hundred  times,  from  morning  till  late  at  night. 

One  kind  family  among  my  new  friends  at  New  Or- 
leans invited  me  to  spend  this  day  with  them,  that  I  might 
see  the  cheerful  scene.  But  it  would  have  wearied  me, 
without  affording  me  what  I  need  on  New-year's  day.  If 
however,  there  were  here  any  genuine  Indian  Bushkiton, 
then  would  I  gladly  he  present,  that  I  might  endeavor  to 
forget.  For  this  I  would  willingly  plunge  into  the  Mis- 
sissippi, if  I  could  only  be  certain  of — coming  up  again ! 
(rod's  deep  mercy  shall  be  my  Bushkiton ! 

And  now,  while  the  weather  is  bad,  and  the  great  world 
is  paying  visits  and  compliments,  and  polite  gentlemen  are 
sunning  themselves  in  the  beautiful  smiles  of  elegant  la- 
dies, in  gas-lighted  drawing-rooms,  I  will,  at  my  ease,  con- 
verse with  you  about  the  occurrences  of  the  last  few  days, 
about  the  slave-market  and  a  slave-auction  at  which  I 
,  /    have  been  present. 

I  saw  nothing  especially  repulsive  in  these  places  ex- 
cepting the  whole  thing;  and  I  can  not  help  feeling  a  sort 
of  astonishment  that  such  a  thing  and  such  scenes  are 
possible  in  a  community  calling  itself  Christian.  It  seems 
to  me  sometimes  as  if  it  could  not  be  reality  —  as  if  it 
were  a  dream. 

The  great  slave-market  is  held  in  several  houses  situ- 
ated in  a  particular  part  of  the  city.  One  is  soon  aware 
of  their  neighborhood  from  the  groups  of  colored  men  and 
women,  of  all  shades  between  black  and  light  yellow, 
which  stand  or  sit  unemployed  at  the  doors.  Accompa- 
nied by  my  kind  doctor,  I  visited  some  of  these  houses.  We 
saw  at  one  of  them  the  slave-keeper  or  owner  —  a  kind, 
good-tempered  man,  who  boasted  of  the  good  appearance 
of  his  people.  The  slaves  were  summoned  into  a  large 
hall,  and  arranged  in  two  rows.  They  were  well  fed  and 
clothed,  but  I  have  heard  it  said  by  the  people  here  that 
they  have   a   very  different    appearance   when  they  are 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  203 

brought  hither,  chained  together  two  and  two,  in  long 
rows,  after  many  days'  fatiguing  marches. 

I  observed  among  the  men  some  really  athletic  figures, 
with  good  countenances  and  remarkably  good  foreheads, 
broad  and  high.  The  slightest  kind  word  or  joke  called 
forth  a  sunny  smile,  full  of  good  humor,  on  their  counte- 
nances, and  revealed  a  shining  row  of  beautiful  pearl-like 
teeth.  There  was  one  negro  in  particular — his  price  was 
two  thousand  dollars — to  whom  I  took  a  great  fancy,  and 
I  said  aloud  that  "  I  liked  that  boy,  and  I  was  sure  we 
should  be  good  friends." 

"Oh  yes,  Missis!"  with  a  good,  cordial  laugh. 

Among  the  women,  who  were  few  in  number  in  com- 
parison with  the  men  (there  might  be  from  seventy  to 
eighty  of  them),  there  were  some  very  pretty  light  mu- 
lattoes.  A  gentleman  took  one  of  the  prettiest  of  them 
by  the  chin,  and  opened  her  mouth  to  see  the  state  of 
her  gums  and  teeth,  with  no  more  ceremony  than  if  she 
had  been  a  horse.  Had  I  been  in  her  place,  I  believe  that 
I  should  have  bitten  his  thumb,  so  much  did  I  feel  myself 
irritated  by  his  behavior,  in  which  he  evidently,  no  more 
than  she,  found  any  thing  offensive.  Such  is  the  custom 
of  the  place. 

My  inquiries  from  these  poor  human  chattels  confined 
themselves  to  the  question  of  whence  they  came.  Most 
of  them  came  from  Missouri  and  Kentucky.  As  I  was 
constantly  attended  by  the  slave-keeper,  I  could  not  ask 
for  any  biographical  information,  nor  could  I,  in  any  case, 
have  been  certain  that  what  I  here  received  was  to  be 
relied  upon. 

In  another  of  these  slave-houses  I  saw  a  gentleman 
whose  exterior  and  expression  I  shall  never  forget.  He 
seemed  to  be  the  owner  of  the  slaves  there,  and  my  com- 
panion requested  permission  for  himself  and  me  to  see 
them.  He  consented,  but  with  an  air,  and  a  glance  at 
me,  as  if  he  would  annihilate  me.     He  wae  a  man  of 


204  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

unusual  size,  and  singularly  handsome.  His  figure  was 
Herculean,  and  the  head  had  the  features  of  a  Jupiter; 
but  majesty  and  gentleness  were  there  converted  into  a 
hardness  which  was  really  horrible.  One  might  just  as 
well  have  talked  about  justice  and  humanity  to  a  block 
of  stone  as  to  that  man.  One  could  see  by  the  cold  ex- 
pression of  that  dark  blue  eye,  by  those  firmly-closed  lips, 
that  he  had  set  his  foot  upon  his  own  conscience,  made 
an  end  of  all  hesitation  and  doubt,  and  bade  defiance  both 
to  heaven  and  hell.  He  would  have  money.  If  he  could, 
by  crushing  the  whole  human  race  in  his  hand,  have  con- 
verted them  into  money,  he  would  have  done  it  with  pleas- 
ure. The  whole  world  was  to  him  nothing  excepting  as 
a  means  of  making  money.  The  whole  world  might  go 
to  rack  and  ruin  so  that  he  could  but  rise  above  it — a  rich 
man,  as  the  only  rich  and  powerful  man  in  the  world. 
If  I  wanted  to  portray  the  image  of  perfected,  hardened 
selfishness,  I  would  paint  that  beautiful  head.  That  per- 
fectly dark  expression  of  countenance,  the  absence  of  light, 
life,  joy,  was  only  the  more  striking  because  the  complex- 
ion was  fair ;  and  the  cheeks,  although  somewhat  sunken, 
had  a  beautiful  bloom.     He  seemed  to  be  about  fifty. 

After  having  visited  three  slave-houses  or  camps,  and 
seen  some  of  the  rooms  in  which  the  slaves  were  lodged 
for  the  night,  and  which  were  great  garrets  without  beds, 
chairs,  or  tables,  I  proceeded  to  the  hospital  of  New  Or- 
leans. It  is  a  large  institution,  and  appears  to  me  well 
managed.  There  were  some  cholera  patients  in  it.  One 
young  man  and  a  young  girl  lay  dying.  I  laid  my  hand 
upon  their  foreheads,  but  they  felt  it  not.  They  had  al- 
ready sunk  into  the  last  sleep. 

I  dined  on  this  day,  the  30th  of  December,  at  the  house 
of  my  countryman,  Mr.  S.,  who  wished  to  give  me  a  real 
New  Orleans  dinner ;  and,  in  particular,  a  favorite  soup 
in  Louisiana,  called  gumbo,  prepared  from'a  kind  of  groat 
somewhat  resembling  sago. 


HOxMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  oq^ 

Mr.  S.  is  a  lively  little  man,  with  a  Creole  grace  of  de- 
meanor, very  loquacious  and  kind.  He  is  married — a 
second  marriage — to  a  French  Creole  of  New  Orleans,  and 
has  by  her  several  most  beautiful  little  boys,  with  dark 
eyes,  and  dark,  flowing  locks,  like  little  French  children. 
The  wife  was  also  lovely,  an  excellent,  simple  creature, 
who  never  before  had  seen  an  authoress,  and  now  seemed 
somewhat  astonished  to  find  her  like  other  people,  able  to 
talk  like  them  also.  She  seemed  to  have  an  idea  that  a 
person  who  wrote  a  book  must  talk  like  a  book. 

The  New  Orleans  dinner  was  remarkably  good,  and 
gumbo  is  the  crown  of  all  the  "savory  and  remarkable 
soups  in  the  world — a  regular  elixir  of  life  of  the  substan- 
tial kind.  He  who  has  once  eaten  gumbo  may  look  down 
disdainfully  upon  the  most  genuine  turtle  soup.  After 
dinner,  my  hostess,  her  sister,  and  myself  had  a  charming 
gossip  over  the  fire.  It  was  a  real  refreshment  both  for 
tongue  and  ear  to  listen  to,  and  to  talk  French  after  that 
unmelodious  and  confused  English  language. 

In  the  evening  I  drank  tea  with  a  family  of  the  name 
of  C,  planters  of  Louisiana.  Deep  sorrow  for  the  loss 
of  two  promising  children  seemed  to  have  depressed  the 
father,  and  almost  crushed  the  heart  of  the  mother.  One 
daughter,  Julia,  still  remains.  When  I  behold  the  dance 
of  the  moon-beams  on  the  waves;  when  I  perceive  the 
scent  of  violets  and  the  glance  of  the  mild  forget-me-not; 
when  I  see  any  thing  which  is  lovely  and  full  of  life,  full 
of  innocence  and  the  joy  of  existence,  but  which,  at  the 
same  time,  looks  as  if  it  would  not  long  linger  on  earth, 
I  shall  think,  Julia,  of  thee,  and  long  to  clasp  thee  once 
more  to  my  heart,  thou  pale,  lovely,  beaming  child  of  the 
South,  and  to  hold  thee  yet  on  earth,  that  thy  mother's 
heart  may  not  break,  and  that  thy  father  and  thy  home 
may  yet  have  some  light! 

On  the  31st  of  December  I  went  with  my  kind  and 
estimable  physician  to  witness  a  slave-auction,  which  took 


206  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

place  not  far  from  my  abode.  It  was  held  at  one  of  the 
small  auction-rooms  which  are  found  in  various  parts  of 
New  Orleans.  The  principal  scene  of  slave-auctions  is  a 
splendid  rotunda,  the  magnificent  dome  of  which  is  wor- 
thy to  resound  with  songs  of  freedom.  I  once  went  there 
with  Mr.  Lerner  H.,  to  he  present  at  a  great  slave-auc- 
tion ;  but  we  arrived  too  late. 

Dr.  D.  and  I  entered  a  large  and  somewhat  cold  and 
dirty  hall,  on  the  basement  story  of  a  house,  and  where 
a  great  number  of  people  were  assembled.  About  twenty 
gentlemenlike  men  stood  in  a  half  circle  around  a  dirty 
wooden  platform,  which*for  the  moment  was  unoccupied. 
On  each  side,  by  the  wall,  stood  a  number  of  black  men 
and  women,  silent  and  serious.  The  whole  assembly  was 
silent,  and  it  seemed  to  me  as  if  a  heavy  gray  cloud  rested 
upon  it.  One  heard  through  the  open  door  the  rain  fall- 
ing heavily  in  the  street.  The  gentlemen  looked  askance 
at  me  with  a  gloomy  expression,  and  probably  wished  that 
they  could  send  me  to  the  North  Pole. 

Two  gentlemen  hastily  entered ;  one  of  them,  a  tall, 
stout  man,  with  a  gay  and  good-tempered  aspect,  evi- 
dently a  bon  vivant,  ascended  the  auction  platform.  I 
was  told  that  he  was  an  Englishman,  and  I  can  believe 
it  from  his  blooming  complexion,  which  was  not  Ameri- 
can. He  came  apparently  from  a  good  breakfast,  and  he 
seemed  to  be  actively  employed  in  swallowing  his  last 
mouthful.  He  took  the  auctioneer's  hammer  in  his  hand, 
and  addressed  the  assembly  much  as  follows: 

"  The  slaves  which  I  have  now  to  sell,  for  what  price 
I  can  get,  are  a  few  home-slaves,  all  the  property  of  one 
master.  This  gentleman  having  given  his  bond  for  a 
friend  who  afterward  became  bankrupt,  has  been  obliged 
to  meet  his  responsibilities  by  parting  with  his  faithful 
servants.  These  slaves  are  thus  sold,  not  in  consequence 
of  any  faults  which  they  possess,  or  for  any  deficiencies. 
They  are  all  faithful  and  excellent  servants,  and  nothing 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  207 

but  hard  necessity  would  have  compelled  their  master  to 
part  with  them.  They  are  worth  the  highest  price,  and 
he  who  purchases  them  may  be  sure  that  he  increases  the 
prosperity  of  his  family." 

After  this  he  beckoned  to  a  woman  among  the  blacks 
to  come  forward,  and  he  gave  her  his  hand  to  mount  upon 
the  platform,  where  she  remained  standing  beside  him. 
She  was  a  tall,  well-grown  mulatto,  with  a  handsome  but 
sorrowful  countenance,  and  a  remarkably  modest,  noble 
demeanor.  She  bore  on  her  arm  a  young  sleeping  child, 
upon  which,  during  the  whole  auction  ceremonial,  she  kept 
her  eyes  immovably  riveted,  with  her  head  cast  down. 
She  wore  a  gray  dress  made  to  the  throat,  and  a  pale  yel- 
low handkerchief,  checked  with  brown,  was  tied  round 
her  head. 

The  auctioneer  now  began  to  laud  this  woman's  good 
qualities,  her  skill,  and  her  abilities,  to  the  assembly. 
He  praised  her  character,  her  good  disposition,  order, 
fidelity;  her  uncommon  qualifications  for  taking  care  of 
a  house  ;  her  piety,  her  talents,  and  remarked  that  the 
child  which  she  bore  at  her  breast,  and  which  was  to  be 
sold  with  her,  also  increased  her  value.  After  this  he 
shouted  with  a  loud  voice,  "  Now,  gentlemen,  how  much 
for  this  very  superior  woman,  this  remarkable,  &o.,  &c, 
and  her  child?" 

He  pointed  with  his  outstretched  arm  and  fore-finger 
from  one  to  another  of  the  gentlemen  who  stood  around, 
and  first  one  and  then  another  replied  to  his  appeal  with 
a  short  silent  nod,  and  all  the  while  he  continued  in  this 
style : 

"Do  you  offer  me  five  hundred  dollars?  Gentlemen, 
I  am  offered  five  hundred  dollars  for  this  superior  woman 
and  her  child.  It  is  a  sum  not  to  be  thought  of!  She, 
with  her  child,  is  worth  double  that  money.  Five  hund- 
red and  fifty,  six  hundred,  six  hundred  and  fifty,  six  hund- 
red and  sixty,  six  hundred  and  seventy.     My  good  gen- 


208  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

tlemen,  why  do  you  not  at  once  say  seven  hundred  dollars 
for  this  uncommonly  superior  woman  and  her  child  ?  Sev- 
en hundred  dollars — it  is  downright  robbery  !  She  would 
never  have  been  sold  at  that  price  if  her  master  had  not 
been  so  unfortunate,"  &c,  &c. 

The  hammer  fell  heavily  ;  the  woman  and  her  child 
were  sold  for  seven  hundred  dollars  to  one  of  those  dark, 
silent  figures  before  her.  Who  he  was ;  whether  he  was 
good  or  bad ;  whether  he  would  lead  her  into  tolerable  or 
intolerable  slavery — of  all  this,  the  bought  and  sold  wom- 
an and  mother  knew  as  little  as  I  did,  neither  to  what 
part  of  the  world  he  would  take  her.  And  the  father  of 
her  child — where  was  he  ? 

"With  eyes  still  riveted  upon  that  sleeping  child,  with 
dejected  but  yet  submissive  mien,  the  handsome  mulatto 
stepped  down  from  the  auction-platform  to  take  her  stand 
beside  the  wall,  but  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  room. 

Next,  a  very  dark  young  negro  girl  stepped  upon  the 
platform.  She  wore  a  bright  yellow  handkerchief  tied 
very  daintily  round  her  head,  so  that  the  two  ends  stood 
out  like  little  wings,  one  on  each  side.  Her  figure  was 
remarkably  trim  and  neat,  and  her  eyes  glanced  round 
the  assembly  both  boldly  and  inquiringly. 

The  auctioneer  exalted  her  merits  likewise,  and  then 
exclaimed, 

"How  much  for  this  very  likely  young  girl?" 

She  was  soon  sold,  and,  if  I  recollect  rightly,  for  three 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars. 

After  her  a  young  man  took  his  place  on  the  platform. 
"  He  was  a  mulatto,  and  had  a  remarkably  good  counte- 
nance, expressive  of  gentleness  and  refinement.  He  had 
been  servant  in  his  former  master's  family,  had  been 
brought  up  by  him,  was  greatly  beloved  by  him,  and  de- 
served to  be  so — a  most  excellent  young  man !" 

He  sold  for  six  hundred  dollars. 

After  this  came  an  elderly  woman,  who  had  aiso  one 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  209 

of  those  good-natured,  excellent  countenances  so  common 
among  the  black  population,  and  whose  demeanor  and 
general  appearance  showed  that  she  too  had  been  in  the 
service  of  a  good  master,  and,  having  been  accustomed  to 
gentle  treatment,  had  become  gentle  and  happy.  All 
these  slaves,  as  well  as  the  young  girl,  who  looked  pert 
rather  than  good,  bore  the  impression  of  having  been  ac- 
customed to  an  affectionate  family  life. 

And  now,  what  was  to  be  their  future  fate  ?  How  bit- 
terly, if  they  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  wicked,  would  they 
feel  the  difference  between  then  and  now — how  horrible 
would  be  their  lot!  The  mother  in  particular,  whose 
whole  soul  was  centered  in  her  child,  and  who,  perhaps, 
would  have  soon  to  see  that  child  sold  away,  far  away 
from  her — what  would  then  be  her  state  of  mind  ! 

No  sermon,  no  anti-slavery  oration  could  speak  so  pow- 
erfully against  the  institution  of  slavery  as  this  slave-auc- 
tion itself ! 

The  master  had  been  good,  the  servants  good  also,  at- 
tached, and  faithful,  and  yet  they  were  sold  to  whoever 
would  buy  them — sold  like  brute  beasts  ! 

In  the  evening.  New-year's  day  is  at  an  end.  I  too 
have  had  visits  from  polite  gentlemen,  hitherto  strangers 
to  me.  Among  them  I  shall  remember,  with  especial 
pleasure,  two  brothers  of  the  name  of  D.,  bankers  of  the 
city,  earnest  and  cordial  men,  who  are  said  to  be  remark- 
able for  their  brotherly  affection  and  public  spirit.  My 
countryman,  Herr  Charles  S.,  has  sat  and  talked  with  me 
this  evening.  He  has  lived  long  in  New  Orleans,  and 
knows  many  circumstances  of  great  interest ;  is  frank 
and  agreeable,  so  that  his  society  is  extremely  pleasant 
to  me. 

I  am  as  comfortable  in  this  house  as  I  can  desire.  I 
have  even  enjoyed  the  bad  weather,  because  it  has  ena- 
bled me  to  read  a  little,  and  to  draw,  and  the  latter  is  a 
necessary  repose  and  refreshment  to  me.     I  have  sketch- 


210  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

ed  the  portraits  of  some  of  my  friends,  and  painted  that 
of  my  little  attendant  here,  a  pretty  dark  mulatto,  with 
lovely  eyes,  and  a  grand  yellow  handkerchief  around  her 
brow,  tied  in  a  manner  peculiar  to  the  negroes  of  Louisi- 
ana. She  has  hitherto  been,  comparatively  speaking,  a 
happy  slave. 

"  Have  your  owners  been  kind  to  you?"  inquired  I. 

"  I  have  never  had  a  bad  word  from  them,  Missis  !"  re- 
plied she. 

But-  -there  are  slave-owners  of  another  kind  in  New 
Orleans. 

Sunday,  January  5th.  Hastily  and  shortly  a  few  words 
about  many  things  which  have  occupied  me  during  the 
last  few  days,  especially  yesterday  and  to-day. 

Yesterday  forenoon  I  visited  the  prisons  of  the  city,  ac- 
companied by  the  superintendents  and  two  distinguished 
lawyers.  The  outward  management  of  the  prisons  seems 
to  me  excellent.  Order  and  cleanliness  prevail  through- 
out, as  is  always  the  case  wherever  the  Anglo-American 
legislates.  I  preserve  the  following  features  of  the  intern- 
al management. 

I  visited  some  rooms  where  women  accused  of  capital 
offsnses  were  confined.  Their  dress  spoke  of  circum- 
stances far  removed  from  poverty,  but  their  countenances 
of  the  prevalence  of  violent  and  evil  passion.  Among 
them  I  remarked  one  in  particular,  a  lady  charged  with 
the  murder  of  her  husband  from  jealousy,  whose  whole 
bearing  denoted  boldness  and  pride. 

All  these  women  declared  their  innocence,  and  com- 
plained of  injustice.  Each  one  had  her  own  apartment, 
but  might  avail  herself  of  companionship  in  the  piazza 
which  surrounded  the  building  within  a  court.  There 
sat  under  this  piazza  a  group  of  negro  women,  apparently 
enjoying  the  sun,  which  was  then  shining  warmly.  They 
looked  so  good  and  quiet,  and  they  all,  especially  two 
young  girls,  bore  so  evidently  the  stamp  of  innocence  and 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  211 

of  good  disposition,  that  I  asked,  with  no  small  degree  of 
astonishment, 

"Why  are  these  here?  What  crimes  have  they  com- 
mitted ?" 

"  They  have  committed  no  offense  whatever,"  was  the 
reply.  "But  their  master  having  given  security  for  a 
person  who  is  now  bankrupt,  they  are  brought  in  here  to 
prevent  their  being  seized  and  sold  by  auction  to  cover  the 
demand,  and  here  they  will  remain  till  their  master  finds 
an  opportunity  of  recovering  them." 

"You  see,"  said  one  of  the  lawyers,  "that  it  is  to  defend 
them ;  it  is  for  their  advantage  that  they  are  here." 

"How  long  will  they  probably  remain  here?"  inquired 
I,  cogitating  within  myself  as  to  what  particular  advant- 
age could  be  derived  by  the  innocent  from  that  daily  as- 
sociation with  these  white  ladies  accused  of  the  darkest 
crimes. 

"Oh,  at  furthest,  two  or  three  weeks — quite  a  short 
time,"  replied  the  lawyer. 

One  of  the  young  negro  girls  smiled,  half  sadly,  half  bit- 
terly. "  Two  weeks!"  said  she;  "we  have  already  been 
here  two  years !" 

I  looked  at  the  lawyer.     He  seemed  a  little  confounded. 

"Ah!"  said  he,  "it  is  extraordinary;  something  quite 
unusual — very  unusual ;  altogether  an  exceptional  case — 
very  rare !"     And  he  hurried  away  from  the  place. 

Again,  and  always  this  injustice  against  human  beings 
whose  sole  crime  is — a  dark  skin. 

Immediately  after  dinner  I  paid  a  visit  to  the  Catholic 
Orphan  Asylum,  where  two  hundred  little  girls  are  placed 
under  the  care  of  fifteen  Sisters  of  Mercy — a  beautiful  and 
well-managed  institution. 

Scarcely  had  I  returned  thence,  when  I  was  taken  by 
some  of  my  acquaintances  to  the  French  opera,  where  I 
saw  "Jerusalem,"  by  Verdi,  which  was  very  well  given. 
The  prima  donna,  Mademoiselle  D.,  is  a  great  favorite  with 


212  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

the  public,  and  deserves  to  be  so,  from  her  lovely  figure, 
the  nobility  of  her  demeanor,  and  her  exquisitely  beautiful 
and  melodious  singing,  although  her  voice  in  itself  is  not 
remarkable.  Her  hands  and  arms  are  of  rare  beauty,  and 
their  movement  was  in  exquisite  harmony  with  her  sing- 
ing. 

The  most  interesting  scene  to  me,  however,  was  not  on 
the  stage,  but  in  the  theatre  itself,  where  the  ladies  of 
New  Orleans,  seated  in  their  boxes,  presented  the  appear- 
ance of  a  parterre  of  white  roses.  They  were  all  dressed  in 
white,  gauze-like  dresses,  with  bare  necks  and  arms,  some 
of  them  very  bare  indeed,  and  some  of  them  with  flowers 
in  their  hair.  All  were  very  pale,  but  not  unhealthy-look- 
ing ;  many  of  the  young  were  quite  pretty,  with  delicate 
features,  and  round,  child-like  countenances.  Beauty  is 
scarce  here,  as  it  is  all  over  the  world.  The  white  pearl- 
powder,  which  the  ladies  here  commonly  use,  gives  to  the 
complexion  a  great  softness,  in  which,  however,  the  art  is 
too  frequently  apparent.  I  do  not  object  to  people  in  so- 
cial life  endeavoring  to  make  themselves  as  beautiful  as 
possible,  but  it  should  be  done  in  the  most  delicate  man- 
ner, and  well  done,  otherwise  the  effect  is  coarse,  and  pro- 
duces an  unpleasing  effect. 

I  sat  in  a  box  of  the  amphitheatre  (which  is  divided  into 
boxes)  with  an  agreeable  and  musical  gentleman,  Mr.  D., 
an  acquaintance  of  my  friend  Lerner  H. ;  and  I  had  placed 
a  beautiful  white  camellia  which  I  received  from  him  in 
Mrs.  GK's  beautiful  dark-brown  hair,  and  had  the  pleasure 
of  seeing  it  shining  out  on  her  beautiful  noble  head  as  she 
sat  in  her  box  in  the  front  row.  For  the  rest,  I  suffered 
from  headache,  owing  to  the  heat  and  exertions  of  the  day, 
but  was  so  anxious  to  be  quite  well  by  the  morrow,  when 
I  was  to  visit  the  French  Market  with  Mr.  Lerner  H.,  that, 
by  means  of  strong  determination  and  strong  coffee,  I  suc- 
ceeded ;  and  accordingly,  at  six  o'clock  in  the  early  dawn, 
I  and  my  cavalier  took  our  way  to  the  French  portion  of 
the  city. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  213 

The  French  Market  is  in  full  bloom  on  Sunday  morn- 
ing each  week,  and  this  also  shows  the  difference  between 
the  French  popular  feeling  and  that  of  the  Anglo-Nor- 
man, who  would  regard  such  a  circumstance  as  Sabbath- 
breaking. 

The  French  Market  is  one  of  the  most  lively  and  pic- 
turesque scenes  of  New  Orleans.  One  feels  as  if  trans- 
ported at  once  to  a  great  Paris  marche,  with  this  difference, 
that  one  here  meets  with  various  races  of  people,  hears 
many  different  languages  spoken,  and  sees  the  productions 
of  various  zones.  Here  are  English,  Irish,  Germans, 
French,  Spaniards,  Mexicans.  Here  are  negroes  and  In- 
dians. Most  of  those  who  offer  articles  for  sale  are  black 
Creoles,  or  natives,  who  have  the  French  animation  and 
gayety,  who  speak  French  fluently,  and  "  Bon  jour,  ma- 
dame  !  bon  jour,  madame  /"  was  addressed  to  me  from 
many  lips  with  the  most  cheerful  smiles,  revealing  the 
whitest  of  teeth,  as  I  wandered  among  the  stalls,  which 
were  piled  up  with  game,  and  fruit,  and  flowers,  bread 
and  confectionery,  grain  and  vegetables,  and  innumerable 
good  things  all  nicely  arranged,  and  showing  that  abund- 
ance in  the  productions  of  the  earth  which  involuntarily 
excited  the  feeling  of  a  sheer  impossibility  that  there  could 
be  any  want  on  the  earth,  if  all  was  as  it  should  be.  The 
fruit-stalls  were  really  a  magnificent  sight ;  they  were 
gorgeous  with  the  splendid  fruits  of  every  zone,  among 
which  were  many  tropical  ones  quite  new  to  me.  Be- 
tween two  and  three  thousand  persons,  partly  purchasers 
and  partly  sellers,  were  here  in  movement,  but  through 
all  there  prevailed  so  much  good  order  and  so  much  sunny, 
amiable  vivacity,  that  one  could  not  help  being  heartily 
amused.  People  breakfasted,  and  talked,  and  laughed 
just  as  in  the  markets  at  Paris,  and  were  vociferous  and 
jocular,  especially  the  blacks — the  children  of  the  tropics 
beaming  with  life  and  mirth.  The  whole  was  a  real 
sunny  Southern  scene,  full  of  sunshine,  cheerful  life,  and 
good  humor. 


214  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

On  the  outskirts  of  the  market  you  found  Indians.  Lit- 
tle Indian  girls  were  seated  on  the  ground,  wrapped  in 
their  blankets,  with  their  serious,  uniform,  stiff  counte- 
nances, and  downcast  eyes  riveted  upon  an  outspread 
cloth  before  them,  on  which  were  laid  out  wild  roots  and 
herbs  which  they  had  brought  hither  for  sale.  Behind 
them,  and  outside  the  market-place,  Indian  boys  were 
shooting  with  bows  and  arrows  to  induce  young  white 
gentlemen  to  purchase  their  toy  weapons.  These  red  boys 
were  adorned  with  some  kind  of  brilliant  ribbon  round 
their  brows,  and  with  feathers,  forming  here  also  a  strong 
contrast  to  those  pale,  modest,  and  unadorned  girls.  These 
Indians  were  of  the  Choctaw  and  Chickasaw  tribes,  many 
families  of  which  may  still  be  met  with  in  Western  Lou- 
isiana. / 

In  the  light  of  the  ascending  sun,  for  the  sun  was  also 
at  this  market  festival,  and  sucking  the  juice  of  delicious 
oranges,  Lerner  H.  and  I  left  the  cheerful  scene,  and  re- 
turned leisurely  home  by  the  harbor,  where  immense  sug- 
ar hogsheads  were  stored. 

Late  in  the  forenoon  I  went  to  church.  The  minister, 
who  is  said  to  be  "  a  genius,"  preached  of  human  love  in 
a  heathenish  way,  by  introducing  the  words  of  a  cele- 
brated romance : 

"  If  a  man  does  not  trouble  himself  more  about  his 
neighbors  than  about  his  cattle  and  his  slaves,  he  does 
not  deserve  the  name  of  a  good  man." 

This  will  suffice  for  the  sermon  and  the  preacher,  who 
was  not  devoid  of  talent,  especially  in  delivery,  although 
that  was.  accompanied  by  too  much  gesticulation. 

Mb*  Gr.  took  me  in  the  afternoon  to  see  the  French 
burial-ground.  It  is  really  "  a  city  of  the  dead  ;"  whole 
streets  and  squares  of  tombs  and  graves,  all  standing 
above  ground,  from  the  fear  of  the  waters  below,  as  the 
whole  ground  here  is  very  dropsical ;  and  among  these  no 
trees,  no  grass-plots,  nothing  green,  with  the  exception  of 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  215 

two  single  graves ;  no  flowers,  nothing  which  testifies  of 
life,  of  memory,  or  of  love.  All  was  dead  ;  all  stony,  all 
desolate  ;  for  neither  were  there  here  any  living  beings 
beside  ourselves.  Wherever  we  walked,  we  walked  be- 
tween walled  graves  and  tombs  ;  wherever  we  turned, 
the  eye  encountered  tombs  and  bare  walls,  with  nothing 
over  them,  with  no  background  except  the  clear  blue 
heaven,  for  it  was  bright  above  the  city  of  the  dead.  I 
thus  wandered  through  these  immense  grave-yards:  it 
was  the  greatest  contrast  which  could  be  imagined  to  the 
scene  of  the  morning. 

To-morrow  I  shall  accompany  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gr.  to  Mo- 
bile in  Alabama,  whither  I  am  invited  by  Mrs.  W.  le  V., 
whom  I  have  often  heard  spoken  of  as  a  very  charming 
and  much  celebrated  "belle"  both  in  the  North  and  South 
of  the  United  States.  We  shall  travel  by  steam-boat 
across  Lake  Pontchartrain  and  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
on  the  banks  of  which  Mavilla,  now  Mobile,  is  situated. 

Mobile,  Alabama,  Jan.  8th. 

Summer,  summer,  perfect  midsummer  weather,  my 
little  Agatha  !  Oh !  that  I  could  by  some  magical  power 
transport  you  to  this  air,  or  this  air  to  you,  for  it  would 
make  you  strong  and  happy,  as  happy  as  it  has  made  me 
for  the  last  few  days.  Ever  since  the  4th  of  January, 
when  the  weather  changed  from  horrible  to  enchanting, 
and  yet  it  had  begun  to  clear  up  two  days  before,  I  have 
been  in  a  sort  of  astonishment  at  such  air,  and  such  a 
delicious  sensation  as  it  occasions;  and  if  I  only  had  you 
here  to  enjoy  it,  I  should  want  nothing  more. 

I  left  New  Orleans  on  Monday  afternoon,  in  company 
with  the  estimable  Swedenborgian,  Mr.  G\,  and  his  ami- 
able and  truly  agreeable  lady.  It  was  the  most  beauti- 
ful evening,  and  the  sunset  was  glorious  on  Lake  Pont- 
chartrain, a  large  lake  which  empties  itself  into  the  Mex- 
ican Gulf,  and  upon  the  flat  shores  of  which  the  planters 
of  Louisiana  have   their  beautiful,  luxurious  villas  and 


216  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

gardens.  The  steam-boat  "Florida,"  which  conveyed  us 
across  the  quiet,  clear  lake,  was  a  flower  among  steam- 
boats, so  ornamental  and  so  pretty,  and  as  yet  in  all  its 
first  freshness.  Mr.  G\,  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the  ves- 
sel, would  not  allow  me  to  pay  my  passage.  "We  inhaled 
the  pleasant  air,  contemplated  the  magnificent  evening 
sky,  ate,  drank,  and  slept  well,  and  saw,  the  next  morn- 
ing, the  sun  rise  bright  above  Mobile. 

Mrs.  Le  V.  came  to  meet  me  with  her  carriage.  I 
found  her  a  short,  handsome  lady,  remarkably  like  Mrs. 
L.  in  appearance,  bearing,  and  manner  of  speaking,  but 
without  her  coldness  of  temperament.  I  had  heard  so 
much  of  Mrs.  Le  V.'s  vivacity  and  grace  that  I  was  sur- 
prised to  find  evident  traces  of  deep  sorrow  in  her  coun- 
tenance. She  had  suffered,  two  years  ago,  blow  after 
blow  in  the  death  of  her  brother  and  two  of  her  children, 
since  which  she  has  altogether  withdrawn  herself  from 
society,  the  ornament  of  which  she  had  hitherto  been. 
She  shut  herself  within  her  own  room  for  several  months, 
which  were  spent  in  incessant  weeping.  The  visit  of 
Lady  Emeline  Stuart  Wortley  to  Mobile,  her  intellectual 
society,  and  warm,  womanly  sympathy,  drew  the  mourn- 
er somewhat  out  of  her  deep  melancholy,  and  she  is  re- 
covering by  degrees.  But  all  is  still  a  burden  to  her,  and 
she  is,  as  it  were,  dead  to  the  pleasures  of  the  world.  She 
believes  that  she  can  never  overcome  that  sense  of  sorrow 
which  seemed  to  have  crushed  her.  Nevertheless,  she  is 
cheerful,  and  even  sometimes  laughs  heartily — but  her 
eyes  show  that  they  have  shed  many  tears. 

Yesterday  she  drove  me  to  a  beautiful  promenade 
through  a  magnolia  forest,  along  the  shore  of  the  Mexican 
Grulf.  The  magnolia  is  a  laurel  with  evergreen  foliage 
of  a  dark  but  clear  color;  it  is  irregular  in  its  form,  but 
tall,  and  its  head,  for  the  most  part,  round  and  rich. 
Thick  masses  of  moss,  the  Tillandsia  usnoides,  hang  like 
veils  over  its  strong,  knotted  branches,  amid  alcoves  of 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  217 

dark  foliage.  It  is  not  a;  beautiful,  but  an  extremely  po- 
etical tree,  and  when  it  shoots  forth  its  snow-white  fra- 
grant flowers,  it  seems  to  recall  some  beautiful  poem  of 
Lord  Byron's. 

The  air  was  pleasant.  The  waves  of  the  Mexican  Gulf 
broke  softly  and  broadly  against  the  shore,  with  a  loud  but 
soothing  sound.  The  woods  were  silent,  fresh,  and  green. 
I  rested,  breathed,  enjoyed,  in  deep  harmony  with  the  scene 
around  me  and  the  young,  amiable  lady  at  my  side. 

In  the  evening  I  went  to  the  theatre,  to  which  I  was 
invited  by  the  theatrical  manager,  who  had  the  politeness 
to  place  a  box  at  my  disposal  during  my  stay  in  the  city. 
I  saw  an  amusing  little  piece  called  "  Jenny  Lind  in  Hei- 
delberg," which  was  performed  with  much  humor ;  and 
I  was  greatly  pleased  by  another  piece,  "The  Daughters 
of  the  Stars,"  in  which  a  very  young  and  highly  gifted 
actress,  Miss  Julia  D.,  caused  me,  to  my  surprise,  to  shed 
tears.  I  have  never  seen  any  acting  in  which  so  much  pa- 
thos was  combined  with  so  much  freshness  and  truth  to 
nature  since  I  saw  Jenny  Lind  at  the  theatre  in  Stockholm. 

From  1th  to  12th  July.  Beautiful  quiet  days !  I  like 
Mobile,  and  the  people  of  Mobile,  and  the  weather  of  Mo- 
bile, and  every  thing  in  Mobile ;  I  flourish  in  Mobile.  My 
home  here  is  with  Mrs.  "W.,  the  mother  of  Mr.  Le  V.,  a 
good  old  lady,  the  widow  of  the  former  Governor  of  Flor- 
ida. The  home  is  sunny  and  peaceful,  and  the  appear- 
ance and  demeanor  of  the  negro  slaves  is  sunny  and  peace- 
ful also.  I  go  out  every  morning  to  a  camp  of  Choctaw 
Indians  just  outside  the  city,  for  it  amuses  me  to  see  the 
life  and  manners  of  these  wild  people.  In  order  to  reach 
this  camp,  I  must  walk  up  Government  Street,  the  prin- 
cipal street  of  the  city,  a  broad,  straight  alley  of  beautiful 
villas,  surrounded  by  trees  and  garden-plots  ;  the  most 
beautiful  young  orange-trees,  covered  with  fruit,  shine  in 
the  sun,  and  the  sun,  that  beautiful,  beneficent  southern 
sun,  shines  here  all  day  long! 

Vol.  II.— K 


218  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

The  Indian  camp  consists  of  thirteen  bark  huts,  some- 
thing like  our  booths  at  fairs,  but  always  open  on  one 
side,  at  least  during  the  day.  Within,  the  huts  have  a 
very  poverty-stricken  appearance.  The  whole  business 
and  anxiety  of  the  inmates  seem  to  be  catering  for  the 
stomach.  I  have  been  there  at  various  times  of  the  day, 
and  have  found  them  always  occupied  in  eating  or  in  pre- 
paring food.  This  morning  they  breakfasted  on  oranges, 
which,  piled  up  in  great  heaps,  seemed  to  have  been  late- 
ly fetched  to  the  camp.  I  suspect  that  they  were  not  of 
the  very  best  quality ;  but  it  was  a  very  lively  scene,  those 
red  people  eating  that  splendid  fruit  on  the  edge  of  the 
splendid  sunbright  forest.  Fire  is  always  burning  in  front 
of  the  bark  huts,  and  old,  shriveled,  gray-haired  women 
sit  by  the  fire,  looking  like  real  witches,  sometimes  stir- 
ring the  contents  of  a  kettle  over  the  fire,  and  sometimes 
warming  their  skinny  hands,  and  seeming  as  if  they  de- 
sired, as  much  as  possible,  to  envelop  themselves  in  the 
smoke.  The  children,  who  sit  in  groups  around  the  fire, 
or  leap  about  the  green-sward  playing  at  ball,  are  hand- 
some, full  of  animation,  and  have  beautiful  dark  eyes. 
The  young  women  are  sometimes  very  much  ornamented 
with  armlets  and  necklaces,  and  have  a  deal  of  painted 
finery  on  their  cheeks.  One  meets  continually  Indian 
women  on  their  way  to  the  city,  carrying  on  their  backs 
large  baskets  of  light- wood  billets,  which  they  are  taking 
thither  for  sale.  These  baskets  are  supported  by  a  broad 
belt,  which  they  fasten  round  the  forehead,  like  the  Indian 
women  of  Minnesota.  The  men  at  this  season  are  out 
hunting  in  the  higher  mountain  district  of  Alabama.  A 
couple  of  them,  who  are  still  lingering  here,  have  made 
themselves  a  screen  of  boughs  and  leaves  among  the  trees, 
behind  which  they  dress,  paint,  and  adorn  themselves. 
They  have  rings  in  their  noses,  and  they  attire  themselves 
very  showily.  One  of  these  Indians  is  an  unusually  hand- 
some young  man,  and  wears  his  hair  in  long  locks  falling 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  219 

on  his  shoulders.  I  have  sketched  a  couple  of  the  young 
girls  ;  they  look  very  plump  and  merry,  and  in  features 
are  not  unlike  Jewesses,  that  is  to  say,  such  as  have  broad 
and  flat  noses. 

These  Indians  are  praised  for  their  integrity,  and  the 
exactness  with  which  they  keep  a  promise.  Further  up 
the  Alabama  River,  great  numbers  of  Indians  are  still 
met  with  in  a  savage  condition;  but  a  great  portion  of 
the  State  of  Alabama  is  still  in  a  savage  condition,  not 
only  as  regards  the  country  itself,  but  the  manners  of  its 
white  inhabitants.  The  state  is  young,  having  only  ob- 
tained its  Constitution  in  1817,  and  it  has  the  institution 
of  slavery — the  institution  of  all  others  least  conducive  to 
spiritual  and  temporal  advancement.  The  fetters  of  slav- 
ery bind  the  white  masters  as  well  as  the  black  servants. 

Even  Mobile  has  its  slave-market,  which  I  visited,  but 
found  there  merely  a  few  mulatto  girls  who  remained 
unsold,  and  who  looked  stupid  and  indifferent,  and  who 
proposed  to  me  that  I  should  purchase  them. 

I  have  been  repeatedly  to  the  theatre,  and  always 
amused  and  interested  by  the  young  and  promising  act- 
ress, Miss  D.  I  met  her  one  evening,  with  a  number  of 
others  of  the  theatrical  company,  at  Mrs.  Le  V.'s.  They 
all  appeared  agreeable  and  well-bred  people,  and  young 
Miss  D.  was  more  beautiful  in  a  room  than  on  the  stage, 
and  as  modest  in  dress  and  demeanor  as  any  of  the  young 
Puritans  of  New  England.  She  is  accompanied  by,  or 
rather  she  accompanies,  her  father,  who  also  is  an  actor 
of  merit.  It  is  evident  that  actors  in  the  New  World  take 
a  higher  position  in  educated  society  than  they  have  yet 
done  in  Europe.     They  do  not  here  form  a  caste. 

I  have  also  seen  at  Mrs.  Le  V.'s  a  great  number  of  the 
grandees  of  Mobile,  and  more  lovely  young  ladies  I  have 
never  met  with.  Some  of  these  were  from  the  Northern 
States,  and  exhibited  that  intelligence  and  life  which  es- 
pecially belongs  to  these  states.     And  again  I  am  com- 


220  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

pelled  to  feel  that  any  thing  more  agreeable  than  a  love- 
ly, refined  American  woman  is  scarcely  to  be  found  on 
the  face  of  the  earth. 

Nor  can  I  remember  otherwise  than  with  pleasure  some 
elderly  gentlemen,  men  of  office  in  the  states,  who  were 
wise  and  clear  on  all  questions  with  the  exception  of 
slavery.  And  among  the  young  men,  I  must  have  the 
pleasure  of  introducing  to  you,  as  my  especial  good  friend, 
the  young,  gifted  poet  and  dramatic  author,  Mr.  Reynolds, 
who  has  accompanied  me  on  many  of  my  rambles,  and 
who  has  afforded  me  many  an  agreeable  hour  by  his  excel- 
lent heart  and  genuine  conversation.  He  has  prepared  for 
the  stage  some  national  historical  pieces,  and  one  of  his 
dramas,  "Alfred  and  Inez,  or  the  Siege  of  St.  Augustine," 
I  shall  take  with  me  to  read  on  my  journey. 

Lastly,  I  must  tell  you  something  of  my  little  friend, 
Mrs.  Le  Y.  I  mention  her  last,  because  she  has  nestled 
into  the  inmost  of  my  heart. 

How  pleasant  it  is  to  be  fond  of  and  to  love  some  one ! 
That  you  know,  my  Agatha!  And  it  is  so  strange  that 
that  little  worldly  lady,  whom  I  had  heard  spoken  of  as  a 
"  belle,"  and  as  the  most  splendid  ornament  of  society 
wherever  she  went,  has  yet  become  almost  as  dear  to  me 
as  a  young  sister !  But  she  has  become  so  from  being  so 
very  excellent,  because  she  has  suffered  much,  and  because 
under  a  worldly  exterior  there  is  an  unusually  sound  and 
pure  intellect,  and  a  heart  full  of  affection,  which  can 
cast  aside  all  the  vanities  of  the  world  for  the  power  of 
gratifying  those  whom  she  loves.  And  with  this  young 
lady  have  I  conversed  of  Transcendentalists  and  practical 
Christians,  of  Mormonism  and  Christianity,  and  have  found 
it  a  pleasure  to  converse  with  her,  a  pleasure  to  her  also 
which  I  little  expected.  We  have  been  involuntarily  and 
naturally  attracted  to  each  other,  so  that  we  feel  as  if  we 
had  been  always  acquainted.  She  says  that  I  have  given 
to  her  that  spiritual  food  of  which  she  stood  in  need,  and 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  221 

she  has  given  me  a  pleasure,  a  gratification  which  is  nour- 
ishing to  my  heart.  Octavia  le  V.  will  be  always  united 
in  my  soul  with  the  remembrance  of  the  most  delicious 
breezes  and  odors  of  the  South,  with  the  verdure  of  mag- 
nolia forests,  with  the  fresh  roar  of  the  Mexican  G-ulf, 
with  the  sun  and  the  song  of  birds  in  the  orange  groves 
of  Mobile. 

This  fair  daughter  of  beautiful  Florida — for  she  was 
born  in  Florida,  and  there  she  spent  her  youth — is  sur- 
rounded by  a  circle  of  relatives  who  seem  to  regard  her 
as  the  apple  of  their  eye^  and  if  you  would  see  the  ideal 
of  the  relationship  between  a  lady  and  her  female  slave, 
you  should  see  Octavia  le  V.  and  her  clever,  handsome 
mulatto  attendant,  Betsy.  Betsy  seems  really  not  to  live 
for  any  thing  else  than  for  her  Mistress  Octavia;  to  dress 
her  hair,  a  la  Mary  Stuart,  every  day,  and  to  see  her  hand- 
some, gay,  and  admired,  that  is  Betsy's  life  and  happiness. 
She  has  traveled  with  Octavia  in  the  United  States ;  and 
when  she  gets  on  this  subject,  and  can  tell  how  captiva- 
ting, how  much  admired  and  worshiped  was  her  lady,  then 
is  Betsy  in  her  element. 

"But  ah!"  said  Betsy,  "she  is  now  no  longer  like  her- 
self. Formerly  she  had  such  beautiful  roses — you  should 
have  seen  her !  No,  she  has  never  been  like  herself  since 
her  great  sorrow !"     And  Betsy's  eyes  fill  with  tears. 

Spite  of  Betsy's  devoted  affections — spite  of  Octavia's 
seeing  in  her  own  and  her  mother's  house  none  but  happy 
slaves,  she  still  belongs  to  those  whose  excellent  hearts 
and  understandings  do  not  confuse  good  and  evil.  When- 
ever an  opportunity  occurs,  she  simply  and  earnestly  ex- 
presses her  conviction  that  slavery  is  a  curse,  and  on  this 
subject  we  are  perfectly  harmonious. 

Octavia  le  V.  and  I  have  agreed  to  go  together  to  Cuba. 
In  the  morning,  therefore,  we  set  off"  to  New  Orleans,  in 
order  early  the  following  day,  the  14th,  to  go  on  board  the 
steamer  "Pacific,"  which  proceeds^  thither  at  that  time. 


222  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

The  palms  of  Cuba  shall  fan  Octavia's  dejected  counte- 
nance, and  call  fresh  roses  into  her  cheeks ;  her  beautiful, 
kind  eyes  shall  grow  brighter  as  they  raise  themselves  to 
that  cloudless  heaven ;  and  there  will  I  calmly  talk  to  her 
of  those  subjects  which  can  make  her  happy  when  I  am 
no  longer  near  her.     Such  is  my  dream  and  my  hope. 

And  now,  before  I  leave  Alabama,  and  the  pretty  little 
city  in  which  I  have  enjoyed  so  much  kindness,  I  will 
merely  tell  you  that  Alabama  is  a  cotton-growing  state, 
and  has  in  the  south  plantations,  sandy  tracts,  and  appar- 
ently thick  forests,  and  in  the  north  beautiful  highlands ; 
the  Alleghany  Mountains  become  more  depressed,  and 
cease,  and  the  prairies  also ;  the  scenery  along  its  naviga- 
ble rivers  is  celebrated,  in  particular  on  the  River  Mobile, 
on  which  Montgomery,  the  capital  of  the  state,  is  situated. 
I  have  been  greatly  tempted  to  make  a  journey  thither. 
But  time  !  time  !  Rail-roads,  steam-boats,  schools,  acad- 
emies have  begun,  during  the  later  years,  to  diffuse  light 
and  vigorous  life  within  -the  slave  state,  the  white  lady 
citizens  of  which,  it  is  said,  have,  here  and  there,  still  a 
custom  of  seeking  for  a  higher  life's  enjoyment  by  rubbing 
their  gums  with  snuff,  which  produces  a  sort  of  intoxica- 
tion very  stimulating  to  the  feelings,  and  to  the  conversa- 
tion likewise. 

The  fascinating  ladies  of  Mavilla  must  bear  the  same 
relation  to  tke  snuff-taking  ones  that  the  magnolia  flower 
does  to  the  flower  of  the  henbane. 

Adieu,  beautiful,  kind  Mobile! 

Adieu,  my  Agatha,  my  own  sister  friend.  More  from 
Cuba. 

New  Orleans,  January  15th. 

Ah  no !  there  is  no  journey  to  Cuba  this  time  !  The 
journey  from  Mobile  began  under  the  most  promising 
auspices.  Octavia  was  gay  and  full  of  hope  ;  she  was 
now  for  the  first  time,  after  her  sorrow,  about  to  leave 
home  and  see  new  objects,  and  she  was  pleased  to  be 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  223 

with  me,  and  I  was  pleased  to  be  with  her.  The  good 
Doctor  Le  V.  had  presented  his  little  wife  with  a  hand- 
some sum  of  money,  that  she  might  be  able  thoroughly  to 
enjoy  herself  in  Cuba.  Ootavia's  mother,  and  her  two 
pretty  little  girls,  had  taken  an  affectionate  leave  of  her, 
in  the  hope  of  seeing  her  return  happy.  Betsy  was  to 
travel  with  us,  for  Betsy  spoke  Spanish  almost  as  well  as 
Octavia ;  and  Octavia  could  not  dispense  with  Betsy,  nor 
could  Betsy  live  without  Octavia  ;  and  Betsy  was  full  of 
cheerful  zeal,  and  managed  cleverly  and  expeditiously  all 
the  business  of  the  journey. 

We  went  on  board,  and  the  morning  sun  arose  glorious- 
ly over  Lake  Pontchartrain.  We  advanced  the  whole  day 
calmly  and  in  sunshine.  We  sat  in  Octavia's  spacious 
cabin — I  beg  pardon,  state-room — amid  bouquets  of  flow- 
ers, inhaling  the  balmy  atmosphere  through  the  open  win- 
dow, and  reading  aloud,  or  conversing  tranquilly  with 
heartfelt,  calm  emotion.  The  moon  shone  gloriously  in 
the  evening.  We  sat  on  deck.  Some  gentlemen  made 
our  acquaintance ;  introduced  themselves,  or  were  intro- 
duced by  others,  and  soon  formed  a  circle  around  Octavia, 
whose  naturally  easy  and  agreeable  style  of  conversation 
always  exercises  a  captivating  power.  It  was  late  when 
we  retired  to  rest.  I  perceived  in  the  middle  of  the  night 
that  our  course  was  suddenly  checked.  I  rose  and  looked 
out  of  the  window ;  the  moon  shone  bright  over  the  mir- 
ror-like lake,  and — we  had  run  aground.  It  was  about 
one  in  the  morning.  The  next  morning  at  six  o'clock  we 
were  to  have  been  at  New  Orleans,  to  go  on  board  the 
"  Pacific"  at  nine !  Such  had  been  our  plan.  But  now 
we  must  remain  where  we  were  until  one  o'clock  the  next 
day,  when  high  water  would  carry  us  off.  We  had  run 
aground  on  a  sand-bank. 

The  next  day  was  as  beautiful  as  its,  predecessor ;  and 
when  certain  dark  presentiments  of  our  not  being  able  to 
have  any  dinner  were  dissipated  by  the  endeavors  of  some 


224  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 


of  the  gentlemen,  who  had  themselves  rowed  to  land  and 
there  purchased  provisions,  and  a  most  delicate  and 
abundant  dinner  was  the  result,  there  was  nothing  dis- 
agreeable in  our  little  misadventure,  except  that  the 
journey  to  Cuba  was  delayed  to  an  indefinite  time,  and 
that  I  probably  should  have  to  make  the  journey  by  my- 
self, as  Octavia  could  not  remain  so  long  from  home. 

It  was  not  until  ten  o'clock  at  night  that  we  reached 
land,  and  no  rail-road  train  was  then  running  which 
would  convey  us  to  New  Orleans.  Betsy,  who  was  nev- 
er without  resources,  looked  after  our  effects,  and  took 
charge  of  every  thing ;  and  two  polite  gentlemen,  who  in 
genuine  Anglo-American  fashion  constituted  themselves 
our  cavaliers,  conducted  us  to  a  country  house  near  the 
rail- way,  where,  though  the  family  was  absent,  a  fire  was 
soon  lighted  for  us  in  a  large  drawing-room. 

It  was  the  most  beautiful  night.  There  was  a  large 
garden  around,  "which  was  full  of  half- tropical  plants,  of 
a  palm-like  growth,  such  as  I  had  never  seen  before.  I 
spent  a  part  of  the  night  in  wandering  about  among  the 
beautiful  rare  plants,  all  the  more  rare  and  beautiful  from 
the  moonlight  which  threw  over  them  its  mystical  roman- 
tic light. 

Our  polite  gentlemen,  who  had  ordered  a  carriage,  final- 
ly conveyed  us  safe  and  sound  to  New  Orleans.  At  half 
past  twelve  we  were  at  St.  Charles's  Hotel.  It  was  quite 
full,  and  it  was  with  difficulty  that  we  obtained  rooms  up 
four  flights  of  stairs.  When  I  entered  Octavia's  room,  I 
found  her  bathed  in  tears,  lying  with  her  face  downward 
on  a  chair,  and  Betsy  standing  in  the  middle  of  the  room, 
in  a  state  of  consternation,  with  her  eyes  riveted  on  her 
mistress. 

"  It  was  here,  in  this  very  room,"  whispered  Betsy  to 
me,  "that  she  (casting  a  glance  on  Octavia)  lived  two 
years  ago,  with  those  two  little  girls,  and  here  she  dressed 
them  for  a  children's  ball !" 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  225 

I  raised  gently  the  head  of  the  weeping  Octavia.  She 
said  mildly, 

"  "Will  you  change  rooms  with  me  ?" 

*  Most  willingly  !"  replied  I. 

Betsy  and  I  removed  Octavia  into  my  room,  nor  did  I 
leave  her  until  I  saw  her  somewhat  calmer. 

Our  rooms  were  nearly  under  the  roof,  and  I  could  not 
prevent  myself  measuring,  with  my  eye,  the  distance 
from  my  window  down  to  the  court  below,  thinking  what 
sort  of  leap  I  should  have  to  make  in  case  of  fire  breaking 
out  in  the  hotel  during  the  night — for  people  must  always 
keep  themselves  prepared  for  such  emergencies  in  the  great 
cities  of  America.  I  started  with  the  conviction  that  such 
a  leap  as  that  would  be — my  very  last. 

The  next  morning  I  was  glad  and  thankful  to  find  my- 
self calmly  in  my  bed.  I  found  my  poor  Octavia  still 
sadly  out  of  spirits,  but  I  was  so  tender  of  her  in  her  sor- 
row that  I  succeeded  in  drawing  her  away  from  images 
of  death  and  corruption. 

I  shall  this  afternoon  leave  this  hotel  and  remove  to  a 
private  family,  to  which  I  am  invited  by  young  Miss  W., 
from  Massachusetts,  in  the  name  of  her  cousin.  There 
was  something  so  agreeable  to  me  in  her  whole  person 
and  manner,  and  even  in  her  mode  of  inviting  me,  that  I 
immediately  felt  an  inclination  to  accept  the  invitation, 
and  gave  a  half  promise.  I  had  done  that  before  I  came 
to  Mobile,  and  now  this  forenoon  Miss  W.  called  on  me, 
and  said,  with  her  refined  and  somewhat  arch  smile,  and 
her  calm,  resolute  bearing, 

"  I  consider  myself,  Miss  Bremer,  to  have  a  right  to  in- 
quire why  you  are  at  this  place  ?" 

I  could  not  do  other  than  consent  to  be  taken  to  Annun- 
ciation Street,  and  to  the  house  of  Mr.  C,  this  very  after- 
noon. Miss  W.  obviated  all  my  butfs  and  e/'s ;  she  is  a  true 
descendant  of  the  Pilgrims  in  her  steadfastness  of  purpose, 
to  which  is  added  that  charm  which  makes  it  irresistible. 

K2 


226  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

I  here  find  myself  once  more  among  friends,  Mr.  Lerner 
H.,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gh,  with  whom  I  shall,  in  about  an 
hour's  time,  drive  out  upon  a  road,  about  six  miles  long, 
made  of  cockle-shells,  which  runs  along  the  shore.  It  is 
one  of  the  remarkable  things  of  New  Orleans.  Mr.  Gr. 
resides  at  Cincinnati,  but  has  business  at  New  Orleans, 
and  he  and  his  wife  will  remain  at  an  hotel  here  during 
the  winter  months,  together  with  their  two  children,  two 
magnificent  boys,  the  youngest  still  quite  young,  and  their 
nurse,  a  stout,  capital  negro  woman,  a  free  negro,  but 
bound  by  the  silken  bonds  of  attachment,  stronger  than 
the  iron  fetters  of  slavery.  Many  families  take  up  their 
abode  thus  at  hotels  for  several  months,  and  many  young 
couples  live  in  the  same  way  also  during  the  first  months 
of  their  marriage.  That,  however,  is  not  so  much  because 
they  relish  hotel  life,  as  because  it  is  very  expensive  to 
establish  themselves  in  their  own  houses  in  America,  and 
a  family  generally  will  have  a  house  wholly  to  themselves. 
A  young  couple  will  frequently  not  wait  to  be  married 
until  they  are  wealthy  enough  "  to  keep  house,"  as  it  is 
termed.  That,  however,  in  the  mean  time,  is  the  object 
after  which  they  strive.  I  have  heard  many  ladies  com- 
plain of  the  emptiness  and  weariness  of  life  in  an  hotel, 
and  deplore  its  influence  on  young  girls,  who  have  in  it 
only  too  many  temptations  to  live  merely  for  pleasure, 
admiration,  and  vanity. 

Later.  I  have  seen  Octavia  once  more  the  ornament  of 
society,  although  still  pale  and  her  eyes  red  with  weep- 
ing, dressed  in  grand  costume,  in  a  black  satin  dress, 
which,  from  its  many  points  and  adornments,  I  call  Yuc- 
ca gloriosa,  surrounded  by  a  little  court  of  gentlemen, 
" faire  la  belle  conversation"  in  one  of  the  splendid 
drawing-rooms  of  the  hotel.  Friends  and  admirers  will 
soon  make  Octavia  lively  here,  and  I  can  now  leave  her 
comfortably,  and  go  to  a  quieter  home  and  to  my  amia- 
ble North  Americans.      Octavia  is  a  rose,  Anne  "W.  is  a 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  227 

diamond,  Mrs.  Gr.  a  genuine  pearl,  and  you — you  are  my 
Agatha ! 

Annunciation  Street,  January  19th. 
My  dear  Heart!  *  #  #  * 

January  20th.  I  began  to  write,  but  was  interrupted, 
on  the  second  day  after  my  removal  to  this  good,  quiet 
home,  the  home  of  a  young  couple,  gentle  and  quiet  peo- 
ple, who  seem  to  live  wholly  and  entirely  for  each  other 
and  their  two  little  children,  the  youngest  still  a  baby, 
just  now  beginning  to  open  his  little  rosy  mouth,  and 
smile  and  coo.  It  was  the  most  glorious  weather  on  the 
afternoon  and  evening  of  the  day  on  which  I  removed 
here ;  I  can  not  describe  the  deliciousness  of  the  air,  the 
serenity  of  the  heavens,  the  enchanting  beauty  of  the  sun, 
the  clouds,  the  moon,  and  the  stars  on  this  day,  when 
merely  to  live,  to  see,  and  to  breathe  sufficed  to  give  a 
fullness  to  life.  Miss  "W.  and  I  sat  out  on  the  piazza  with 
oleanders  and  magnolias  around  us,  and  enjoyed  this  af- 
fluence of  nature.  Tall  aloes,  the  Yucca  gloriosa,  and 
many  rare  trees  and  plants,  shone  out  verdantly  from  the 
little  flower-beds  of  the  garden  which  surround  the  lovely 
house.  I  enjoyed,  besides  this,  her  conversation,  which 
is  distinguished  by  its  freshness  and  originality,  its  per- 
fectly independent  and  earnest  mode  of  feeling  and  judg- 
ing. I  again  perceived  that  imprisoned  fire  which  I  had 
before  seen  glimmering  in  her  clear,  dark -brown  eyes, 
diamond-like  and  still.  It  warmed  me.  "We  talked  about 
Jane  Eyre,  and  I  for  the  first  time  heard  any  one  openly 
express  my  own  secret  wishes  with  regard  to  Jane's  be- 
havior to  Rochester.  I  love  that  virtue  which  is  above 
conventional  morality,  and  which  knows  something  better 
than  to  be  merely — free  from  blame. 

But  I  ought  to  tell  you  the  cause  of  the  interruption  in 
my  letter  yesterday.  First  it  was  the  cold,  and  then  it 
was  the  fire.  I  will  explain.  The  day  which  succeeded 
that%eautiful  summer-day  of  which  I  have  spoken  was 


228  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

wretched  weather,  so  cold  that  it  shook  both  soul  and 
body,  and  made  me  so  irritable  and  so  out  of  humor,  that 
I  thanked  my  good  fortune  not  to  have  slaves,  and  that  I 
thus  should  not  be  excited  to  wreak  my  bad  temper  on 
them.  Never,  until  I  came  into  America,  had  I  any  ex- 
perience of  the  power  which  the  feelings  of  the  body  can 
have  over  the  soul.  God  help  the  slave-owner  and  the 
slave  in  this  variable  climate,  the  penetrative  atmosphere 
of  which  causes  both  body  and  soul  to  vibrate  according 
to  its  temperature. 

Well,  I  was  frozen,  but  I  had  a  fire  in  my  large,  hand- 
some room.  Octavia  le  Y.  came,  and  Mrs.  G\,  for  I  had 
begun  to  sketch  their  portraits  in  my  album,  and  they 
were  to  sit  to  me. 

I  enjoyed  the  contemplation  and  the  drawing  of  these 
two  amiable  ladies,  the  noble,  earnest,  regular  profile  of 
Mrs.  G\,  and  the  round,  child-like,  piquant  countenance 
of  Octavia  le  V.,  with  its  little  turned-up  nose,  which  I 
imagine  resembles  Cleopatra's,  and  its  fantastic  arrange- 
ment of  the  hair,  the  artistic  labor  of  Betsy's  hands.  We 
were  very  comfortable ;  Mrs.  Gr.  sat  before  the  fire,  Octavia 
before  me,  and  we  were  talking  earnestly  and  cheerfully 
about  love,  when  a  messenger  came  to  Mrs.  Gr.  from  her 
husband  requesting  her  to  send  her  keys.  St.  Charles's 
Hotel  was  on  fire. 

Mrs.  Gr.  could  not  be  easy  to  remain ;  she  knew  that 
her  husband  and  her  children  were  at  the  burning  hotel, 
and  thither  she  hastened. 

Octavia  le  V.  had,  before  she  came  to  me,  given  Betsy 
leave  to  go  out,  and  had  locked  her  room  door.  There  was 
no  one  at  the  hotel  who  would  take  charge  of  her  room  or 
her  effects.  Her  beautiful  wardrobe,  her  casket  contain- 
ing several  hundred  dollars,  destined  to  defray  the  ex- 
penses of  her  journey  to  Cuba,  all  would  probably  become 
the  prey  of  the  flames. 

"Ah!  it  is  quite  certain  every  thing  will  be  destroyed," 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  229 

said  Octavia,  and  sat  tranquilly  before  me,  an  image  of 
unexampled  equanimity.  The  heart  which  had  bled  with 
the  deepest  sorrow  could  not  agitate  itself  by  the  loss  of 
earthly  possessions ;  the  eye  which  had  wept  so  long  over 
a  beloved  brother  and  those  dear  children,  had  no  tears  for 
worldly  adversity.  I  saw  this  evidently,  while  Octavia 
calmly  reckoned  up  every  thing  which  her  room  contain- 
ed, and  which  would  now  be  consumed.  She  said  that 
early  that  morning  she  had  seen  a  volume  of  black  smoke 
issue  from  under  her  bed.  She  gave  the  alarm,  and  sent 
a  message  to  the  master  of  the  hotel,  who  replied  that 
there  was  no  danger;  that  the  smoke  had  merely  found 
its  way  thither  through  a  defect  in  one  of  the  chimney- 
flues,  and  that  all  would  soon  be  put  to  rights.  An  hour 
afterward  smoke  was  again  in  the  room ;  but  it  seemed 
perfectly  to  have  subsided  when  she  left  the  hotel. 

I  had  seen  so  much  of  Betsy's  precaution  and  alertness, 
as  well  as  affection  for  her  mistress,  that  I  could  not  but 
hope  for  and  rely  upon  her  help  on  this  occasion. 

"  She  will  soon,"  said  Ir  "hear  of  the  fire,  and  then  she 
will  immediately  hasten  to  the  place,  and  find  some  means 
of  saving  your  property." 

"  She  will  not  hear  of  it,"  said  Octavia;  "she  has  gone 
a  long  way  out  of  the  city.  The  hotel  is  built  of  wood, 
and  the  fire  will  consume  it  in  a  few  hours  ;  besides,  I  am 
certain  that  the  fire  has  broke  out  near  my  room.  Oh, 
no !  all  the  things  will  be  destroyed." 

The  loss  seemed  as  nothing  to  Octavia.  She  was  much 
more  uneasy  on  account  of  the  distress  which  her  husband 
and  her  mother  would  feel  if  they  should  hear  of  the  cir- 
cumstance before  she  wrote. 

In  the  mean  time,  as  hour  after  hour  went  on,  and  we 
received  no  tidings  either  from  Betsy  or  from  St.  Charles's, 
Octavia  determined  to  go  to  one  of  her  friends,  who  dwelt 
not  far  from  the  great  hotel,  that  she  might  there  gain 
some  information,  or  even  still  go  to  the  place  itself. 


230  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

When  she  had  been  gone  about  an  hour,  there  was  a 
hasty  ring  at  the  gate  which  leads  from  the  garden  into 
the  street.  I  recognized  Betsy,  and  rushed  down  to  speak 
to  her. 

"  How  is  it,  Betsy?"  cried  I. 

"  All  safe !"  said  she,  so  out  of  breath  that  she  could 
hardly  speak,  but  with  a  beaming  countenance.  "  I  have 
ail  the  money  with  me !"  and  she  laid  her  hand  upon  her 
breast.     "  Where  is  my  Missis  ?" 

"  I  believe  that  she  is  gone  to  St.  Charles's,"  said  I. 

"  There  is  no  longer  a  St.  Charles's,"  said  Betsy.  "  It 
is  burned  to  the  ground !" 

And  so  it  was.  In  less  than  three  hours'  time  that 
splendid  building  was  a  heap  of  ashes,  and  its  population 
of  nearly  four  hundred  persons  were  houseless. 

I  went  out  with  Betsy  to  seek  for  Mrs.  Le  V. 

On  our  way,  that  faithful  creature  told  me  how  the 
rumor  of  the  fire  had  reached  her,  how  she  had  hastened 
to  the  hotel,  how  one  of  the  gentlemen  there,  a  friend  of 
Mrs.  Le  V.,  had  broken  open  the  door  of  her  room,  and 
how  he  and  Betsy  had  saved  all  Octavia's  property.  Not 
an  article  was  lost.  Betsy  told  me  still  more  as  we  went 
along,  of  how  much  she  loved  her  mistress ;  of  how  she 
might  have  been  married  more  than  once,  and  how  there 
was  still  a  free  man  in  the  North  who  would  gladly  have 
her,  but  she  could  not  think  of  leaving  Mrs.  Le  V.  "  She 
was  so  fond  of  her,  she  should  never  leave  her." 

But  who  would  not  be  fond  of  Octavia  ? 

When  we  reached  the  residence  of  Mrs.  Le  V.'s  friend, 
we  found  that  she  had  been  taken  thence  to  a  small  hotel 
in  the  neighborhood  of  St.  Charles,  and  thither  Betsy  hast- 
ened to  seek  for  her. 

With  the  thought  of  Mrs.  Gr.  I  went  to  the  scene  of 
conflagration,  in  the  hope  of  hearing  some  tidings  of  her 
there,  and  was  fortunate  enough,  when  near  the  place,  to 
meet  her  eldest  son,  and  to  hear  from  him  that  she,  his 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  231 

father,  and  little  brother  were  all  well  lodged  in  the  house 
of  a  friend  at  no  great  distance.  I  passed  St.  Charles's  ; 
merely  a  small  number  of  people  were  now  busied  about 
the  fire.  It  had  done  its  work,  and  the  flames  were  now 
consuming  the  lower  portion  of  the  beautiful  colonnades, 
and  ravaging  the  remains  of  the  basement  story.  The 
burning  ruins  produced  a  very  picturesque  effect.  Not  a 
trace  of  tumult  or  disorder  appeared  on  the  open  space  in 
front.  Every  thing  had  been  already  disposed  of  and 
housed  elsewhere ;  every  thing  was  tranquil.  It  was  now 
only  about  four  hours  from  the  outbreak  of  the  fire,  and 
I  have  heard  to-day  that  a  subscription  is  already#on  foot 
to  erect  another  St. Charles's.     American  expedition! 

A  few  persons  have  been  injured  by  the  fire,  and  many 
have  lost  their  effects.  The  fire  broke  out  just  by  Octa- 
via's  room,  which  was  very  near  mine.  How  fortunate 
that  it  did  not  happen  in  the  night ! 

I  do  not  grieve  about  St.  Charles's.  It  was,  in  my  opin- 
ion, a  dear,  uncomfortable,  splendid  hotel,  and  worthy  of 
such  a  death!  I  was  obliged  to  pay  four  dollars  and  a 
quarter  for  a  residence  there  of  one  night  and  half  a  day 
in  a  dark  room,  four  stories  high.  But  Louisiana  is  a  very 
dear  place,  the  dearest  in  the  United  States. 

From  20th  to  27th  January.  Quiet  days,  but  disagree- 
able weather !  Since  the  day  when  I  last  wrote,  and  when 
the  weather  had  changed  from  warm  to  bitterly  cold,  it 
has  rained  incessantly,  and  been  cold  and  cheerless  with 
a  perseverance  such  as  I  scarcely  ever  saw  before.  Not  a 
blue  speck  in  the  heavens,  not  a  sunbeam — perpetual  fog, 
sleet,  and  gray  cold.  To-day,  for  the  first  time,  it  has 
cleared  up,  and  seems  as  if  it  would  again  become  pleas- 
ant. This  weather  has  caused  many  excursions,  both 
\vithin  and  out  of  the  city,  to  be  deferred.  But  how 
thankful  I  am  for  my  quiet  and  pleasant  home  during  this 
time!  Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  are  kind,  gentle,  and  very  quiet 
people,  and  that  order  and  comfort,  which  is  a  distinguish- 


232  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

ing  feature  of  American  homes,  prevails  in  their  house. 
Anne  W.  is  full  of  life  and  quiet  fire,  imprisoned  Within 
her,  as  in  the  diamond;  she  is  an  intellectual  and  inter- 
esting heing,  who  affords  me  great  pleasure,  from  the  orig- 
inality of  her  character,  and  her  reading  aloud  in  the  even- 
ing. In  this  way  she  has  made  me  acquainted  with  va- 
rious English  poets  hitherto  almost  unknown  to  me.  It 
has  heen  a  great  pleasure  to  me  to  hear  her  read  Shelley's 
magnificent  poem,  "  Prometheus  Unbound,"  which  would 
he  the  most  glorious  poem  of  the  age  if  its  conclusion  had 
heen  equal  to  its  opening  scenes.  But  this  is  stranded  on 
a  threadbare  morality.  I  have  also  enjoyed  the  reading 
of  Browning's  poems  and  dramatic  pieces,  as  well  as  some 
by  Elizabeth  Barrett,  the  wife  of  Browning.  Browning 
does  not  appear  to  me  great  as  an  artist.  There  is  a  de- 
ficiency of  strength  and  coherence  in  his  compositions. 
But  a  something  singularly  grand  and  pure  in  feeling  and 
tendency  gladdens  and  warms  the  heart.  A  spirit  of  no- 
ble, self-sufficing  heroism  permeates  his  poems.  One  feels 
one's  self  refreshed  as  by  the  waftings  of  a  something  di- 
vinely great. 

I  spent  one  evening  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  D.,  friends  of 
Mr.  Lerner  H.,  and  heard  good  music,  well  played  by 
amateur  musicians,  gentlemen  and  ladies  of  the  Northern 
States.  Another  evening  I  attended  the  opera,  where  I 
heard  Meyerbeer's  "Prophete."  The  piece  is  unpoetical 
and  meagre  in  its  conception,  but  it  affords  grand  specta- 
cle, and  the  music  of  Meyerbeer  has,  in  all  cases,  some 
dramatic,  characteristically  beautiful  parts.  Mrs.  D.,  who 
performed  the  part  of  the  mother  of  the  prophet,  played 
and  sang  nobly  and  well.  The  prophet  was  a  wearisome 
person,  so  was  his  beloved*  If  the  piece,  instead  of  being 
founded  on  a  poor  love  intrigue,  had  been  sustained  by  re- 
ligious fanaticism  and  spiritual  pride,  such  as  we  meet 
with  in  the  historical  prophet,  John  of  Leyden,  the  opera 
would  have  had  a  true  interest.     As  it  is,  there  is  no  food 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  233 

for  thought,  and  it  excited  my  nerves  to  that  degree  with 
its  continual  startling  effects,  that  it  was  with  difficulty  I 
could  keep  my  eyes  open.  The  last  scene  was  monstrous- 
ly magnificent,  and  woke  me  up  a  little.  The  sight  of 
the  white-garmented,  lovely  young  Creoles  in  the  pit  and 
hoxes  charmed  my  eyes  as  before.  But  I  discovered  some 
pearl-powdered  noses  on  the  faces  of  some  of  the  elderly 
ladies. 

I  have  also  visited  asylums  and  schools  in  consequence 
of  invitations.  New  Orleans  is  divided  into  three  muni- 
cipalities ;  the  schools  are  said  to  have  greatly  improved 
within  the  last  few  years.  Teachers,  both  male  and  female, 
come  hither  from  the  Northern  States,  and  wherever  they 
come,  they  bring  with  them  that  energetic  educational 
life  which  distinguishes  those  states.  A  female  teacher 
in  one  of  the  schools  of  New  Orleans  can  obtain  a  salary 
of  one  thousand  dollars  annually ;  but  the  living,  on  the 
other  hand,  costs  three  times  as  much  as  in  the  other 
states  of  the  Union. 

I  heard  the  boys  in  the  great  boys'  school  singing  boldly 
the  praise  of  their  native  land,  as 

The  land  of  the  brave  and  the  land  of  the  free  ! 

This  is  sung  in  the  slave  states  without  any  one  per- 
ceiving the  satire  of  the  domestic  institution  which  such 
praise  implies. 

Thus,  from  childhood  upward,  is  the  natural  sense  of 
right,  and  the  pure  glance  of  youth,  falsified  by  the  insti- 
tution of  slavery. 

And  it  does  not  operate  injuriously  merely  upon  the 
upright  mind  of  the  child,  so  that  it  does  not  perceive  the 
lie,  but  also  upon  its  heart  and  its  character.  A  noble 
lady  of  New  Orleans,  who  has  resided  here  some  years, 
told  me  a  great  deal  of  the  unhappy  effects  of  slavery  upon 
the  education  of  the  child,  and  its  influence  in  making  the 
young  disposition  stubborn  and  intractable.  The  child, 
surrounded  by  slaves  from  the  cradle,  accustoms  himself 


234  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD 

to  command  them,  to  have  all  his  caprices  gratified,  or  to 
see  the  refusal  punished,  often  with  cruelty.  Hence  re- 
sults that  violence  of  temper,  and  those  ferocious  and 
bloody  scenes  which  are  of  such  frequent  occurrence  in 
the  slave  states.  And  how  can  it  he  otherwise?  Even 
I  have  seen  a  few  examples  of  the  behavior  of  children 
to  slaves,  which  has  shown  how  much  this  institution  tends 
to  develop  the  naturally  despotic  disposition  of  the  child. 

I  visited  a  school  for  young  girls,  where  I  could  not  but 
admire  their  capacity  for  making  intellectual  salto  mor- 
tales. 

During  the  examination  which  the  superintendent 
caused  them  to  pass  through,  and  which  they  passed 
through  with  remarkable  ability,  the  questions  were  pro- 
posed something  in  this  style  : 

"  "What  is  snow  ?  How  large  is  the  standing  army  of 
the  Emperor  of  Russia  ?  Where  is  Lapland  ?  "Who  was 
Napoleon  ?  "What  is  saltpetre  ?  How  far  is  the  earth 
from  the  sun?  When  did  Shakspeare  live?  In  what 
year  did  Washington  die  ?  What  is  the  amount  of  the 
population  of  France  ?     What  is  the  moon  ?"  and  so  on. 

The  girls  answered  in  chorus,  very  quickly,  and  for  the 
most  part  quite  correctly.  The  whole  examination  was 
a  succession  of  surprises  to  me,  and  I  can  not  do  other 
than  admire  the  kind  of  order  which  must  be  obtained  in 
those  young  souls,  from  their  contact  with  snow,  the 
standing  army  of  Russia,  Lapland,  Napoleon,  saltpetre, 
Washington,  the  population  of  France,  and  the  moon  ! 

I  must  now  tell  you  about  a  real  African  tornado  which 
Anne  W.  and  I  witnessed  last  Sunday  afternoon.  It  was 
in  the  African  Church,  for  even  here,  in  this  gay,  light- 
hearted  city  of  New  Orleans,  has  Christianity  commenced 
its  work  of  renovated  life  ;  and  they  have  Sunday-schools 
for  negro  children,  where  they  receive  instruction  about 
the  Savior  ;  and  the  negro  slaves  are  able  to  serve  Grod 
in  their  own  church. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  235 

"We  came  too  late  to  hear  the  sermon  in  this  African 
Church,  whither  we  had  betaken  ourselves.  But  at  the 
close  of  the  service,  a  so-called  class-meeting  was  held. 
I  do  not  know  whether  I  have  already  said  that  the  Meth- 
odists form,  within  their  community,  certain  divisions  or 
classes,  which  elect  their  own  leaders  or  exhorters.  These 
exhorters  go  round  at  the  class-meeting  to  such  of  the 
members  of  their  class  as  they  deem  to  stand  in  need  of 
consolation  or  encouragement,  talk  to  them,  aloud  or  in  an 
under  voice,  receive  their  confessions,  impart  advice  to 
them,  and  so  on.  I  had  seen  such  a  class-meeting  at 
"Washington,  and  knew,  therefore,  what  was  the  kind  of 
scene  which  we  might  expect.  But  my  expectations 
were  quite  exceeded  here.  Here  we  were  nearer  the 
tropical  sun  than  at  Washington. 

The  exhorters  went  round,  and  began  to  converse  here 
and  there  with  the  people  who  sat  on  the  benches.  Scarce- 
ly, however,  had  they  talked  for  a  minute  before  the  per- 
son addressed  came  into  a  state  of  exaltation,  and  began 
to  speak  and  to  perorate  more  loudly  and  more  vehement- 
ly than  the  exhorter  himself,  and  so  to  overpower  him. 
There  was  one  exhorter  in  particular,  whose  black,  good- 
natured  countenance  was  illumined  by  so  great  a  degree 
of  the  inward  light,  by  so  much  good-humor  and  joy,  that 
it  was  a  pleasure  to  see  him,  and  to  hear  him  too  ;  for, 
although  his  phrases  were  pretty  much  the  same,  and 
the  same  over  again,  yet  they  were  words  full  of  Christian 
pith  and  marrow,  and  they  were  uttered  with  so  much 
cordiality,  that  they  could  not  do  other  than  go  straight 
to  the  heart  with  enlivening  power.  Sometimes  his  ideas 
seemed  to  come  to  an  end,  and  he  stood,  as  it  were,  seek- 
ing for  a  moment ;  but  then  he  would  begin  again  with 
what  he  had  just  now  said,  and  his  words  always  brought 
with  them  the  same  warmth  and  faithfulness,  and  he 
looked  like  a  life-infusing  sunbeam.  And  it  was  only  as 
the  messenger  of  the  joy  in  Christ  that  he  preached  : 


236  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

"  Hold  fast  by  Christ !  He  is  the  Lord  !  He  is  the 
mighty  One  !  He  will  help !  He  will  do  every  thing 
well  !  Trust  in  him,  my  sister,  my  brother.  Call  upon 
him.  Yes.  Yes.  Hold  fast  by  Christ!  He  is  the 
Lord  !"  &c,  &c. 

By  degrees  the  noise  increased  in  the  church,  and  be- 
came a  storm  of  voices  and  cries.  The  words  were  heard, 
"  Yes,  come  Lord  Jesus !  Come,  oh  come,  oh  glory !" 
and  they  who  thus  cried  aloud  began  to  leap — leaped 
aloft  with  a  motion  as  of  a  cork  flying  out  of  a  bottle, 
while  they  waved  their  arms  and  their  handkerchiefs  in 
the  air,  as  if  they  were  endeavoring  to  bring  something 
down,  and  all  the  while  crying  aloud,  "  Come,  oh  come  !" 
And  as  they  leaped,  they  twisted  their  bodies  round  in  a 
sort  of  cork-screw  fashion,  and  were  evidently  in  a  state 
of  convulsion  ;  sometimes  they  fell  down  and  rolled  in  the 
aisle,  amid  loud,  lamenting  cries  and  groans.  I  saw  our 
tropical  exhorter,  the  man  with  the  sun-bright  counte- 
nance, talking  to  a  young  negro  with  a  crooked  nose  and 
eyes  that  squinted,  and  he  too  very  soon  began  to  talk 
and  to  preach,  as  he  sprung  high  into  the  air,  leaping  up 
and  down  with  incredible  elasticity.  Whichever  way  we 
looked  in  the  church,  we  saw  somebody  leaping  up  and 
fanning  the  air  ;  the  whole  church  seemed  transformed 
into  a  regular  Bedlam,  and  the  noise  and  the  tumult  was 
horrible.  Still,  however,  the  exhorters  made  their  rounds 
with  beaming  countenances,  as  if  they  were  in  their  right 
element,  and  as  if  every  thing  were  going  on  as  it  ought 
to  do.  Presently  we  saw  our  hearty  exhorter  address  a  few 
words  to  a  tall,  handsome  mulatto  woman,  who  sat  before 
us,  and  while  he  was  preaching  to  her  she  began  to  preach 
to  him ;  both  talked  for  some  time  with  evident  enchant- 
ment, till  she  also  got  into  motion,  and  sprang  aloft  with 
such  vehemence,  that  three  other  women  took  hold  of  her 
by  the  skirts,  as  if  to  hold  her  still  on  the  earth.  Two  of 
these  laughed  quietly,  while  they  continued  to  hold  her 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  237 

down,  and  she  to  leap  up  and  throw  her  arms  around.  At 
length  she  fell  and  rolled  about  amid  convulsive  groans. 
After  that  she  rose  up  and  began  to  walk  about,  up  and 
down  the  church,  with  outspread  arms,  ejaculating  every 
now  and  then,  "  Halleluiah  !"  Her  appearance  was  now 
calm,  earnest,  and  really  beautiful.  Amid  all  the  wild 
tumult  of  crying  and  leaping,  on  the  right  hand  and  the 
left,  she  continued  to  walk  up  and  down  the  church,  in 
all  directions,  with  outspread  arms,  eyes  cast  upward, 
exclaiming,  in  a  low  voice,  "  Halleluiah  !  Halleluiah !" 
At  length  she  sank  down  upon  her  knees  on  the  platform 
by  the  altar,  and  there  she  became  still. 

After  the  crying  and  the  leaping  had  continued  for  a 
good  quarter  of  an  hour  longer,  several  negroes  raised  the 
mulatto  woman,  who  was  lying  prostrate  by  the  altar. 
She  was  now  quite  rigid.  They  bore  her  to  a  bench  in 
front  of  us,  and  laid  her  down  upon  it. 

"  What  has  happened  to  her  ?"  inquired  Anne  W.  from 
a  young  negro  girl  whom  she  knew. 

"  Converted !"  said  she  laconically,  and  joined  those 
who  were  softly  rubbing  the  pulses  of  the  converted. 

I  laid  my  hand  upon  her  brow.  It  was  quite  cold,  so 
also  were  her  hands. 

When,  by  degrees,  she  had  recovered  consciousness,  her 
glance  was  still  fixed,  but  it  seemed  to  me  that  it  was 
directed  rather  inwardly  than  outwardly;  she  talked  to 
herself  in  a  low  voice,  and  such  a  beautiful,  blissful  ex- 
pression was  portrayed  in  her  countenance,  that  I  would 
willingly  experience  that  which  she  then  experienced,  saw, 
or  perceived.  It  was  no  ordinary,  no  earthly  scene.  Her 
countenance  was  as  it  were  transfigured.  As  soon  as, 
after  deep  sighs,  she  had  returned  to  her  usual  state,  her 
appearance  became  usual  also.  But  her  demeanor  was 
changed ;  she  wept  much,  but  calmly  and  silently. 

The  tornado  gradually  subsided  in  the  church;  shriek- 
ing and  leaping,  admonishing  and  preaching,  all  became 


238  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

hushed ;  and  now  people  shook  hands  with  each  other, 
talked,  laughed,  congratulated  one  another  so  heartily,  so 
cheerfully,  with  such  cordial  warmth  and  good -will,  that 
it  was  a  pleasure  to  hehold.  Of  the  whole  raging,  excit- 
ing scene  there  remained  merely  a  feeling  of  satisfaction 
and  pleasure,  as  if  they  had  been  together  at  some  joyful 
feast. 

I  confess,  however,  to  having  been  thoroughly  amused 
by  the  frolic.  Not  so  Anne  W.,  who  regarded  that  dis- 
orderly, wild  worship  with  a  feeling  of  astonishment,  al- 
most of  indignation ;  and  when  our  warm-hearted  exhorter 
came  up  to  us,  and,  turning  especially  to  her,  apologized 
for  not  having  observed  us  before,  that  it  was  with  no  in- 
tention to  neglect  us,  and  so  on,  I  saw  her  lovely  coral- 
red  upper  lip  curl  with  a  bitter  scorn  as  she  replied,  "  I 
can  not  see  in  what  respect  you  have  neglected  us."  The 
man  looked  as  if  he  would  have  been  glad,  with  all  his 
heart,  to  have  preached  to  us,  and,  for  my  own  part,  I 
would  gladly  have  listened  to  his  Christian  exhortation, 
given  with  its  African  ardor.  We  shook  hands,  however, 
in  the  name  of  our  common  Lord  and  Master. 

And  spite  of  all  the  irrationality  and  the  want  of  good 
taste  which  may  be  felt  in  such  scenes,  I~am  certain  that 
there  is  in  them,  although  as  yet  in  a  chaotic  state,  the 
element  of  true  African  worship,  (rive  only  intelligence, 
order,  system  to  this  outbreak  of  the  warm  emotions, 
longings,  and  presentiments  of  life,  and  then  that  which 
now  appears  hideous  will  become  beautiful,  that  which 
is  discordant  will  become  harmonious.  The  children  of 
Africa  may  yet  give  us  a  form  of  divine  worship  in  which 
invocation,  supplication,  and  songs  of  praise  may  respond 
to  the  inner  life  of  the  fervent  soul ! 

How  many  there  are,  even  in  our  cold  North,  who  in 
their  youthful  years  have  felt  an  Africa  of  religious  life, 
and  who  might  have  produced  glorious  flowers  and  fruits 
if  it  only  could  have  existed — if  it  had  not  been  smothered 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.        .   239 

by  the  snow  and  the  gray  coldness  of  conventionality — 
had  not  been  imprisoned  in  the  stone  church  of  custom. 

I  have  visited  some  other  churches  in  New  Orleans,  a 
Unitarian,  an  Episcopalian,  and  a  Catholic  Church,  the 
last  with  the  name  dear  to  me,  that  of  St.  Theresa.  But 
the  heavenly  spirit  of  St.  Theresa  was  not  there.  An  Irish- 
man jabbered  an  unintelligible  jargon,  and  in  not  one  of 
these  houses  of  God  could  I  observe  or  obtain  that  which 
I  sought  for — edification.  There  was,  at  all  events,  life 
and  ardor  in  the  church  of  the  negro  assembly. 

What  more  have  I  to  tell  you  about  New  Orleans? 
That  it  is  a  large  city  of  one  hundred  thousand  inhabit- 
ants, and  the  commercial  capital  of  the  southern  portion 
of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  you  can  learn  from  books.  The 
crescent-formed  site  of  the  city  on  the  Mississippi  is  beau- 
tiful, and  it  has  some  handsome  streets  and  markets,  and 
splendid  houses  surrounded  with  trees  and  shrubs,  like 
other  American  cities.  The  French  and  older  portions  of 
the  city  have  a  more  bald  and  business-like  character; 
but  New  Orleans  is  beyond  every  thing  else  a  business 
and  trading  city,  and  it  is  far  behind  the  other  large  cities 
of  the  United  States  as  regards  institutions  for  a  higher 
intellectual  and  moral  culture.  It  does  not  possess  any 
means  of  artistic  enjoyment,  excepting  at  the  theatres, 
and  these,  especially  as  regards  dramatic  scenes,  do  not 
take  a  very  elevated  stand. 

At  the  present  moment,  people  here  are  occupied  with 
the  prosecution  of  several  of  the  gentlemen  who  accom- 
panied Lopez  as  leaders  on  his  robber  expedition  to  Cuba. 
Lopez  has  been  released  on  his  finding  surety  to  a  consid- 
erable amount — 15,000  dollars,  I  believe — but  a  certain 
Colonel  Henderson,  and  others,  have  yet  to  be  tried,  and 
are  to  plead  their  own  cause,  as  they  are  said  to  be  pos- 
sessed of  great  ability  in — making  speeches.  The  New 
Orleans  gentlemen  laugh,  and  call  the  whole  thing  "a 
farce,"  which  will   not  result  in   any  thing  but — long 


240  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

speeches !  There  is  no  earnestness  in  the  prosecution,  and 
this  gives  rise  to  somewhat  more  than  a  suspicion  that 
certain  slave  states  have  an  interest  in  the  expedition. 

I  have  rambled  about  the  city  during  the  few  fine  days 
which  have  occurred  while  I  have  been  here,  but  have 
found  few  objects  of  interest  for  the  eye,  excepting  those 
lovely,  colored  Creole  women,  who,  with  their  delicate 
features,  fine  eyes,  and  pretty  heads,  adorned  with  showy 
handkerchiefs,  tastefully  arranged,  according  to  the  cus- 
tom of  New  Orleans,  produce  a  very  piquante  appearance ; 
and  I  have  seen  in  the  streets  young  servant-girls,  quad- 
roons, whose  beauty  was  perfect.  Their  figures  also  are 
generally  slender,  and  remarkably  well-proportioned. 

New  Orleans  has  long  been  known  asau  very  gay  city," 
but  has  not  so  good  a  reputation  for  its  morality,  into 
which  French  levity  is  strongly  infused.  This,  however, 
it  is  said,  decreases  in  proportion  as  the  Anglo-American 
people  obtain  sway  in  the  city.  And  their  influence  grows 
even  here  rapidly.  The  French  population,  on  the  con- 
trary, does  not  increase,  and  their  influence  is  on  the  de- 
cline. Nor  have  I  heard  the  most  favorable  testimony 
given  to  the  commercial  morality  of  New  Orleans.  On 
one  occasion  I  heard  a  merchant,  a  friend  of  mine,  say,  as 
he  stood  among  the  sugar-hogsheads  on  one  of  the  great 
wharves  of  the  city,  "  There  has  been  more  rascality  prac- 
ticed on  this  very  place  than  would  be  sufficient  to  sink 
the  whole  city !" 

Nevertheless,  there  is  a  good  public  spirit  at  work  to 
make  the  city  worthy  to  maintain  its  place  on  the  earth. 
One  excellent  institution  now  in  progress  of  erection  here 
is  a  large  sailors'  home,  in  which  it  is  intended  to  board 
and  lodge  in  an  excellent  manner,  and  at  a  reasonable  rate, 
sailors  whose  vessels  are  lying  in  the  harbor  either  to  land 
or  to  take  in  cargo.  Hitherto,  mariners  arriving  at  the  city 
have  had  no  other  abode  than  in  ale-houses,  which  were 
regular  nests  of  thieves.     The  large  and  magnificent  house 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  241 

which  is  now  being  erected  by  good  men  of  the  city,  will 
henceforth  provide  a  comfortable  and  safe  haven  for  the 
mariner.  Two  of  my  gentlemen  friends,  who  are  working 
for  this  cause,  hope  to  interest  Jenny  Lind  in  it,  who  is 
shortly  expected  hither  from  Cuba ;  and  as  the  house  is 
intended  for  the  benefit  of  the  Swedish  as  well  as  any  oth- 
er seamen,  it  is  probable  that  this  patriotic  and  generous 
Swede  will  interest  herself  in  its  behalf. 

I  read  to-day  in  a  New  Orleans  paper,  "  The  Daily  Pic- 
ayune" (picayune  is  the  name  of  a  little  Spanish  silver 
coin  which  is  current  here,  value  sixpence),  a  beautiful 
and  earnest  address  to  the  inhabitants  of  New  Orleans, 
beseeching  them  to  leave  the  celebrated  Swedish  singer  at 
full  liberty  in  the  exercise  of  her  well-known  beneficence, 
and  not  to  fail  in  proper  respect  to  a  stranger  by  their  ob- 
trusiveness  or  exhortations,  etc. 

And  it  must  be  confessed,  that  although  Jenny  Lind  has 
often  had  just  cause  to  complain  of  the  Americans'  well- 
meant,  but  frequently  thoughtless  and  childish  obtrusive- 
ness,  yet  I  have  often  had  opportunities  of  knowing  and 
admiring  the  beautiful  and  magnanimous  manner  in  which 
people  here  have  felt  for  her.  How  many  there  are  who 
have  satisfied  themselves  by  a  silent  benediction  rather  than 
cause  her  a  moment's  annoyance  ;  how  many  who  would 
not  allow  themselves  to  approach  her,  because  they  knew 
that  they  could  not  give  her  pleasure  by  so  doing,  nor  would 
venture  to  invite  her  to  their  homes  for  the  same  reason. 

1  remember  hearing  an  estimable  old  gentleman,  a  judge 
at  Cincinnati — a  magnificent  old  man  he  was ! — say  that 
he  accompanied  her,  in  the  newspapers,  every  step  of  her 
journey,  with  that  interest  and  solicitude  which  a  father 
might  have  for  his  daughter  ;  and  that  he  felt  real  distress 
that  she  should,  in  any  degree,  compromise  her  beautiful 
reputation  by  any  unadvised  step.  And  I  have  heard  so 
much  said  about  Jenny  Lind  in  America,  that  I  know  that 
while  people  love  in  her  the  singer  and  the  giver  of  money, 

Voi,  II.— L 


242  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

they  love  still  more  the  young  woman,  in  her  beautiful 
role  and  reputation — the  ideal  Jenny  Lind. 

But  I  must  now  speak  of  Louisiana  and  New  Orleans. 
Louisiana,  as  you  know,  was  first  discovered  by  the  Span- 
iards and  French.  The  French  were  the  first  who  at- 
tempted to  colonize  Louisiana.  They  began  and  left  off, 
and  then  began  afresh.  It  would  not  succeed.  But  a 
great  deal  was  said  in  France  and  England  about  Loui- 
siana as  a  promised  land,  an  El  Dorado,  with  immeasur- 
able internal  wealth  ready  to  be  brought  to  light,  and 
faith  in  this  gave  rise  to  the  gigantic  financial  speculation 
of  John  Law,  based  upon  the  fabulous,  delusive  wealth 
of  Louisiana,  and  afterward  to  the  great  bankruptcy  of  all 
who  had  taken  part  in  that  wild  speculation.  Louisiana, 
or  that  vast  country  embracing  the  southern  part  of  the 
Mississippi,  and  which  at  that  time  included  Arkansas, 
passed  afterward  from  the  dominion  of  the  French  to  that 
of  the  Spaniards,  then  back  to  that  of  the  French,  until, 
in  the  year  1803,  Louisiana  was  purchased  by  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  and  united  to  them  as  an  inde- 
pendent state.  In  the  mean  time,  Louisiana  had  been 
cultivated  and  peopled  by  the  French,  Spaniards,  English, 
Germans,  and  other  nations,  and  New  Orleans  had  slowly 
grown  up  amid  inundations  and  hurricanes,  and  with 
small  prospect  of  ever  becoming  that  "crescent  city" 
which  it  now  is. 

The  population  of  Louisiana  did  not  exceed  fifty  thou- 
sand souls,  not  reckoning  the  Indians,  when  it  was  incor- 
porated with  the  United  States.  Seven  years  later  the 
amount  of  its  population  was  three-fold.  The  new  epoch, 
and  new  life,  however,  of  both  Louisiana  and  New  Or- 
leans, first  commenced  when,  in  the  year  1812,  the  first 
steam-boat  came  thither  upon  the  Grreat  River.  This  was 
soon  followed  by  hundreds  of  other  steam-boats,  and  New 
Orleans  rapidly  increased  to  a  city  of  the  first  rank  among 
the  cities  of  the  South. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  243 

The  whole  of  Louisiana  is  flat,  in  part  swampy  and 
under  water,  and  in  part  rich  and  fertile  country  ;  sugar, 
cotton,  maize,  rice,  indigo,  are  the  products  of  Louisiana. 
In  the  northern  portion,  where  the  sand  elevates  itself  into 
little  hills,  are  forests,  which  abound  in  many  kinds  of 
trees — oak,  chestnut,  walnut,  sassafras,  magnolia,  and 
poplar.  In  the  south  the  palmetto,  mulberry,  live-oak, 
cedar,  and  pine,  and  every  where  an  abundant  growth  of 
the  wild  vine.  There  are  also  many  navigable  rivers, 
tributaries  of  the  Mississippi,  which,  as  well  as  bogs  and 
small  lakes,  abound  in  alligators.  These  alligators,  though 
they  do  not  venture  to  attack  full-grown  men,  not  unfre- 
quently  carry  off  little  negro  children.  Louisiana  is  said 
to  produce  many  poisonous  plants,  serpents,  and  other 
noxious  creatures.  It  seems  to  me  an  undesirable  place 
in  every  way.  I  would  not  live  in  it  for  all  its  sugar  and 
cotton. 

I  must  now  tell  something  of  the  internal  history  of 
New  Orleans,  or,  rather,  a  story  which  has  struck  me. 
That  noble-minded  Mr.  Poinsett,  the  old  ex-minister  o£ 
South  Carolina,  told  me  that  slavery  seemed  to  operate 
still  more  prejudicially  on  women  than  on  men,  and  that 
women  not  unfrequently  were  found  to  be  the  crudest 
slave-owners.  And,  whether  it  was  a  mere  accident  or  a 
confirmation  of  the  truth  of  this  assertion,  the  most  ter- 
rible instances  which  I  heard  mentioned  in  South  Caroli- 
na of  the  maltreatment  of  slaves  were  of  women,  and  of 
women  belonging  to  the  higher  grades  of  society.  I  be- 
lieve I  already  have  told  you  of  the  two  ladies  in  Charles- 
ton who  were  publicly  accused  for  the  murder  of  their 
slaves,  the  one  by  hunger,  the  other  by  flogging,  and  who, 
although  they  were  acquitted  by  cowardly  laws  and  law- 
yers, yet  fell  under  the  ban  of  public  opprobrium,  and 
were  left  to  a  dishonorable  solitude  and  to — the  judgment 
of  God. 

My  friend  of  the  Mississippi,  the  pure  conscience  of 


244  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Louisiana,  had  asserted  the  same  fact  as  Mr.  Poinsett, 
and,  as  if  it  were  in  substantiation  thereof,  New  Orleans 
has  not  in  its  chronicle  of  crime  a  more  bloody  or  a  more 
detested  name  than  that  of — a  woman,  Mrs.  Lallorue,  born 
Macarthy.  It  is  to  the  honor  of  New  Orleans  that  this 
wealthy  lady  has  been  obliged  to  fly  from  the  fury  of  its 
hatred.  But  how  long  before  that  time  had  she  torment- 
ed her  victims  ? 

It  appears  that  the  behavior  of  her  brother  to  his  mis- 
tresses of  the  colored  race  excited  her  hatred  toward  them. 
Other  slave-owners  maltreat  their  slaves  in  the  irritation 
of  the  moment  or  the  excess  of  temper,  but  Madame  Lal- 
lorue maltreated  hers  because  she  enjoyed  and  relished 
their  sufferings.  She  was  the  possessor  of  a  large  plant- 
ation, and  indulged  upon  it  her  arbitrary  sway  in  such  a 
manner  as  roused  her  neighbors  in  arms  against  her. 
They  announced  to  her  that  they  would  no  longer  hear  of 
such  transactions;  and  that  in  case  they  did,  she  should 
become  amenable  to  law. 

On  this,  Madame  Lallorue  fled  to  New  Orleans,  where, 
less  under  observation,  she  could  devote  herself  to  her  own 
private  pleasure.  She  here  derived  an  income  by  hiring 
out  her  slaves,  who  every  week  were  compelled  to  bring 
home  their  earnings  to  her.  If,  however,  they  did  not  re- 
turn to  the  time,  or  if  their  earnings  were  less  than  she 
thought  proper — woe  to  them !  Her  own  house-slaves  had 
no  better  fate ;  on  the  slightest  occasion — which  never 
fails  for  those  who  desire  it — she  confined  them  in  the 
cellar,  fettered  with  iron  chains,  where  she  visited  them 
only  to  practice  her  cruelty  on  them.  I  will  not  tell  you 
the  means  which  she  used  to  indulge  her  lust  of  cruelty 
— the  chronicles  of  heathenism  and  fanaticism  know  noth- 
ing worse.  Enough— the  doleful  cries  of  her  victims 
found  their  way  above  ground,  through  stone  walls  and 
bolted  door,  and  made  themselves  heard.  It  was  noised 
abroad  in  the  city.     The  heart  of  the  people  swelled  with 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  245 

indignation.  They  gathered  in  crowds  round  the  house 
in  which  she  lived  ;  they  vowed  to  release  the  victims,  to 
pull  down  the  house,  and  take  vengeance  on  this  monster 
in  the  shape  of  woman.  The  business  was  in  rapid  prog- 
ress ;  the  walls  of  the  house  were  beginning  to  fall,  when 
— the  mayor  appeared  with  an  armed  force.  Madame 
Lallorue's  house  was  preserved,  and  an  opportunity  was 
afforded  her  to  escape  through  a  back  gate.  She  fled, 
half  dressed,  out  of  New  Orleans ;  and,  somewhat  later, 
left  America. 

She  afterward  lived  in  Paris,  and  received  there  the  in- 
come of  an  immense  property  acquired  in  Louisiana,  by 
what  means  we  know.  She  died,  it  is  said,  only  a  short 
time  since.  Who  can  doubt  a  hell  after  death  when  they 
see  the  life  and  pleasure  of  such  persons  on  earth!  Ma- 
dame Lallorue's  husband,  a  Frenchman,  still  resides  in 
New  Orleans,  and  is  said  to  be  a  man  of  good  character. 
He  must  at  that  time  have  lived  separate  from  his  wife. 

This  circumstance  occurred  ten  or  twelve  years  since. 

If  it  really  be  true  that  women  are  the  worst  of  slave- 
owners, it  must  proceed  from  their  temperament  being  in 
general  more  excitable,  and  from  the  climate  having  an 
unusually  irritating  effect  upon  the  nervous  system  by  its 
stimulating  character ;  besides  which,  women  generally 
exceed  men  in  their  extremes  either  of  good  or  evil ;  they 
are  by  nature  more  eccentric,  more  spiritual,  nearer  the 
spirits,  whether  they  be  angels  or  devils. 

In  Sweden  also — in  the  highest  circles  of  Stockholm — 
we  have  known  ladies  whose  domestics  bore  bloody  marks, 
and  whom  the  police  were  obliged  to  take  in  charge. 
Countess  L.  was  amiable,  kind,  agreeable  to  every  body 
except  her  domestics,  and  she  was  not  able  to  keep  a  serv- 
ant in  her  house  beyond  six  weeks.  We  have  had  the 
ladies  of  two  foreign  ministers — both  English — both  of 
whom,  from  their  treatment  of  their  servants,  deserved 
the  Christmas  gift  which  one  of  them  received  from  an 


246  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

acquaintance  of  the  family — a  bloody  medal  of  bravery ! 
A  good  thing  is  it  that  the  servants  of  these  ladies  could 
leave  them,  thanks  to  the  laws  of  a  free  country !  But 
here,  in  this  free  country,  people  can,  in  the  face  of  such 
facts,  still  defend  slavery  as  a  patriarchal  institution,  quite 
compatible  with  the  laws  of  a  free  people,  and  with  hu- 
man rights  and  happiness! 

I  have  had  here  several  contests  with  a  lady  who  de- 
fends these  opinions,  and  who,  in  order  to  prove  the  jus- 
tice and  equity  of  slavery,  and  the  happiness  of  the  negro 
slaves  under  this  excellent  institution,  avails  herself  of  ar- 
guments and  sophisms,  backward  and  forward,  with  such 
an  amazing  contempt  of  logic  and  all  sound  reason,  that 
I  have  sometimes  become  dumb  from  sheer  astonishment. 

I  avoid,  in  a  general  way,  as  much  as  possible,  conver- 
sation on  this  subject.  The  question  of  slavery  is  a  sore 
eye  which  winches  at  the  slightest  touch.  It  is  painful 
to  the  good,  and  it  irritates  those  who  are  not  good,  while 
it  serves  no  purpose  one  way  or  the  other.  I  am  there- 
fore silent  when  I  can  be  so  with  an  easy  conscience ;  but 
for  all  that,  it  is  evident  that  the  question  can  not  rest ; 
that  the  work  of  light  has  commenced  for  the  release  of 
the  children  of  Africa,  and  that  their  condition,  even  here, 
is  improving  with  every  passing  year. 

I  would  gladly  tell  you  of  some  good  female  slave-own- 
er who  might  be  placed  as  a  counterbalance  to  Mrs.  Lal- 
lorue,  but  —  I  do  not  know  any  ;  such,  however,  must 
exist.  The  very  bad  make  a  great  noise,  and  the  good 
but  very  little.  But  I  must  tell  you  of  a  gentleman,  a 
slave-owner,  who  seems  to  me  to  stand  in  the  slave  states 
as  an  opened  door  to  the  house  of  bondage. 

Two  years  ago  there  died  in  New  Orleans  a  gentleman 
named  Macdonald,  who  left  behind  him  a  property  of 
many  millions  of  dollars,  the  whole  of  which  he  bequeath- 
ed for  purposes  of  public  benevolence  in  Louisiana.  This 
singular  man,  who  lived  in  the  most  miserly  manner,  ex- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  247 

pended  next  to  nothing  upon  himself,  and  never  gave 
away  any  thing,  not  even  to  his  near  relatives,  who  were 
almost  perishing  of  want;  his  one  thought  was  how  to 
save,  to  accumulate,  and  by  the  increase  of  each  day  to 
double  his  capital,  and  to  this  end  all  his  activity  and  in- 
dustry were  applied,  even  in  the  smallest  thing.  He  was 
parsimonious  even  of  his  words,  and  parted  with  nothing 
unnecessarily. 

Nevertheless,  he  had  great  thoughts  and  plans.  He 
considered  himself  as  destined  by  Providence  to  acquire 
an  immense  property,  by  means  of  which  to  achieve  great 
things  for  the  good  of  the  state  of  which  he  was  a  native. 
He  regarded  himself,  therefore,  as  the  steward  of  his 
wealth,  and  maintained  that  he  had  no  right  to  give  even 
the  smallest  portion  thereof  for  the  most  trifling  object. 
These,  at  least,  were  the  pretexts  with  which  he  gilded 
his  parsimony  and  his  hardness  of  heart. 

He  said,  "  If  I,  year  after  year,  double  my  capital  in 
this  (a  certain  given)  proportion,  I  shall  in  the  end  become 
the  richest  man  in  Louisiana ;  I  might,  continuing  in  this 
way,  ultimately  purchase  the  whole  of  Louisiana,  and  then 
— "  Then  he  would  do  great  things,  which  would  make 
Louisiana  the  finest  and  the  happiest  state  in  the  Union. 
And  Macdonald  had  views  for  this  purpose,  and  plans 
which  prove  him  to  have  been  possessed  of  a  deeply  think- 
ing mind.  But  the  poor  man  forgot  that  he  was  mortal, 
and,  although  he  attained  to  an  extreme  old  age,  yet  he 
had  not  nearly  acquired  the  wealth  after  which  he  strove 
when  he  was  surprised  by  —  death.  His  magnificent 
plans  will  die  with  him,  and  effect  little  or  nothing  for 
Louisiana,  except  possibly  in  one  respect,  and  that  is  the 
one  of  which  I  spoke,  as — the  opening  of  the  prison-door. 

Macdonald  was  a  planter  and  the  owner  of  slaves.  He 
determined  to  emancipate  his  slaves,  and  that  in  a  mode 
by  which  they  should  gain,  and  he  lose  nothing. 

He  said  to  them, 


248  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

"You  shall  work  yourselves  free,  and  purchase  your 
own  release  from  slavery  for  the  same  sum  which  I  paid 
for  you.  I  will  give  you  the  means  of  doing  this.  You 
shall  work  for  me  five  days  in  each  week,  as  heretofore, 
for  food,  clothing,  and  habitation ;  you  shall  work  for  me 
also  on  the  sixth  day,  hut  I  will  pay  you  wages  for  that, 
and  give  you  credit  for  the  money  thus  earned,  which  I 
will  employ  for  you.  Thus  the  first  year.  During  the 
second  year  you  shall  be  paid  for  two  days'  labor  in  the 
week,  provided  that  you  work  industriously  and  well ;  the 
following  year  three,  and  so  on,  till  the  sum  is  acquired 
which  is  requisite  for  my  reimbursement,  and  for  you  to 
have  a  little  over,  so  that  you  may  possess  enough  to  be- 
gin life  with  in  Liberia,  whither  I  shall  send  you  when 
you  are  free." 

The  slaves  knew  that  Macdonald  would  keep  his  word. 
They  began  to  labor  with  new  heart,  because  they  now 
labored  for  their  own  freedom  and  their  future  well-being. 
Some  accomplished  it  more  rapidly,  others  more  slowly, 
but  within  two  years  all  the  slaves  on  the  plantation  had 
worked  themselves  free.  Macdonald  fulfilled  his  part  to 
them  as  he  had  promised,  and  they  could  now  become  free 
without  detriment  either  to  themselves  or  others.  They 
had  become  accustomed  to  work,  to  forethought,  and  self- 
government,  at  least  so  far  as  regarded  their  own  affairs. 
In  the  mean  time,  Macdonald's  plantation  had  been  un- 
usually well  cultivated,  and  the  slaves  had  repaid  their 
original  purchase-money. 

I  do  not  know  whether  it  was  Macdonald's  intention  to 
have  his  plantation  afterward  cultivated  by  white  labor- 
ers or  by  free  blacks;  but  one  thing  appears  to  me  cer- 
tain, and  that  is,  that  Macdonald's  mode  of  effecting  the 
emancipation  of  slaves  is  deserving  of  consideration  and 
imitation,  as  one  of  the  wisest  which  can  be  devised  for 
the  gradual  and  general  release  of  both  the  blacks  and  the 
whites  of  North  America  from  the  fetters  of  slavery. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  249 

I  know  many  estimable  and  thinking  men  of  New  Or- 
leans who  consider  that  such  a  mode  of  emancipation,  as 
would,  by  degrees,  convert  the  negro  slaves  into  free  la- 
borers, might  be  put  into  operation  without  much  diffi- 
culty, and  that  all  those  dangerous  results  which  people 
imagine  are,  in  great  measure,  only  fears  and  fancies. 

I  have  been  told  that  the  severest  slave-owners  in  this 
neighborhood  are  French,  and  I  can  credit  it  from  the 
French  popular  temperament ;  the  Scotch  and  the  Dutch 
take  the  second  place.  Slaves  of  small  and  poor  proprie- 
tors often  suffer  very  much  from  hunger,  as  do  also  cattle. 
I  heard  to-day  of  one  place  where  a  considerable  number 
of  cattle  had  literally  perished  for  want  of  food. 

I  have  made  inquiries  after  the  Christmas  dances  and 
festivities  of  the  negro  slaves,  of  which  I  heard  so  much, 
but  the  sugar-harvest  was  late  last  year,  and  the  sugar- 
grinding  was  not  over  till  after  New-year's  day ;  the  cotton 
is  still  being  plucked  on  the  plantations,  and  the  dances  age 
deferred.  I  have  now  traveled  in  search  of  these  negro  fes- 
tivities from  one  end  of  the  slave  states  to  the  other,  with- 
out having  been  lucky  enough  to  meet  with,  to  see,  nay, 
nor  even  to  hear  of  one  such  occasion.  I  believe,  neverthe- 
less, that  they  do  occur  here  and  there  on  the  plantations. 

For  the  rest,  I  have  experienced  so  much  kindness,  have 
met  with  so  many  good  and  warm-hearted  friends,  that  I 
have  been  both  astonished  and  affected.  I  had  always 
heard  New  Orleans  mentioned  as  a  very  lively  but  not 
very  literary  city,  and  Mr.  Lerner  H.  had  prepared  me  to 
find  that  the  people  of  New  Orleans  liked  to  see  that  which 
was  beautiful.  It  was  clear,  therefore,  that  for  that  very 
reason  they  would  not  like  to  look  at  me  ;  and  yet  they 
have  come  and  come  again  to  me,  have  overwhelmed  me 
with  kindness  and  presents,  as  well  men  as  women,  and 
made  my  days  pleasant  in  many  ways.  For  my  own 
part,  I  have  no  other  memories  of  New  Orleans  but  those 
of  pleasure  and  gratitude. 

L2 


250  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Ootavia  le  Y.  returned  home  a  few  days  ago.  Those 
eyes,  which  remained  dry  and  bright  when  she  was  in 
danger  of  losing  all  her  ornaments  and  her  money,  over- 
flowed with  tears  when  she  had  to  part  from  her  newly- 
found  friend.  I  kissed  away  the  tears  from  those  pale 
cheeks.     I  feel  that  I  am  heartily  attached  to  her. 

Mrs.  Gr.  has  been  an  incomparable  friend  to  me  at  this 
time  when  I  had  to  prepare  my  wardrobe  for  Cuba — some- 
what elegant,  and  of  a  light  summer  texture  at  the  same 
time — and  when  I  had  divers  little  misfortunes,  partly 
caused  by  the  dress-maker,  but  principally  through  my 
own  blunders.  You  know  how  annoying  all  such  bus- 
iness is  to  me  ;  but  you  can  scarcely  imagine  how  I  have 
felt  it  here,  where  weariness  both  of  body  and  mind,  as 
well  as  ignorance. of  prices  and  persons  in  the  dress-mak- 
ing and  millinery  world,  rendered  all  my  difficulties  ten- 
fold. Neither  can  you  at  all  imagine  how  kind  and  ami- 
able Mrs.  Gr.  has  been  during  all  these  great  little  troubles 
— her  patience,  her  good  temper;  nor,  lastly,  how  well  she 
has  helped  me  with  every  thing.  Yes — I  am  ashamed 
when  I  compare  myself  with  her ;  but  then  she  is  one  of 
the  most  amiable  people  I  ever  met  with. 

In  the  evening.  I  have  now  had  my  last  drive  with 
Anne  "W.  along  the  beautiful  cockle-shell  road  to  Lake 
Pontchar train.  The  air  was  delicious,  and  the  sky  once 
more  gazed  upon  us  with  blue  eyes  from  between  the 
clouds,  which  parted  more  and  more.  The  road,  for  the 
most  part,  runs  through  flat  and  still  unreclaimed  forest- 
land.  One  does  not  here  see  our  beautiful  moss  and  lich- 
en-covered mountains  and  hills,  but  thickets  of  the  prime- 
val forest,  from  which,  on  all  sides,  look  forth  those  beau- 
tiful palmetto-trees,  with  their  large,  fan-like  leaves  wav- 
ing in  the  air,  and  the  regular  and  graceful  form  of  many 
half- tropical  plants,  which,  indicating  a  new  phase  of 
earth's  vegetable  productions,  have  a  wonderful  fascina- 
tion for  me. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  251 

In  the  morning,  in  the  morning,  my  Agatha,  I  shall 
go  on  board  the  great  steamer,  "The  Philadelphia,"  and 
in  three  days  I  shall  be  at  Cuba.  I  shall  be  very  glad  to 
get  there,  both  because  I  shall  see  some  new  beauties  of 
nature,  and  because  I  shall  breathe  a  milder  air,  and  shall 
escape  during  the  winter  months  this  variable  American 
climate,  which  is  so  trying  to  my  strength  both  of  body 
and  mind.  I  have  become  physically  ten  years  older  dur- 
ing this  twelve  months'  journey  in  North  America. 

But  be  not  afraid  for  me,  my  dear  heart,  but  trust,  as 
I  do,  that  my  traveling  fairy,  your  little  friend,  which 
has  hitherto  conducted  me  safely  through  all  perils — 
which  conducted  me  without  any  misadventure  down  the 
whole  extent  of  the  Mississippi  to  New  Orleans,  at  the 
very  time  when  four  steamers,  with  their  passengers,  were 
blown  into  the  air  upon  its  waters,  and  caused  me  to  re- 
move from  St.  Charles's  Hotel  to  this  good  home  the  day 
before  the  hotel  became  the  prey  of  flames — the  same  will 
conduct  me  safe  and  sound  once  more  to  my  own  sister- 
friend,  to  YOU. 

P.S. — I  have  been  gladdened  here  by  letters  from  my 
friends  in  the  North,  the  Downings,  the  Springs,  and  the 
Lowells.  These  friends  accompany  me  like  good  spirits, 
and  I  must  tell  you  so,  because  you  must  love  my  friends. 
Maria  Lowell  writes,  the  little  traveling  companion  who 
went  with  us  every  where,  and  to  Niagara,  and  yet  which 
never  spoke,  and  remained  so  quiet,  was — a  little  boy, 
who  now,  large,  and  stout,  and  rosy,  is  little  Mabel's  or- 
acle. She  listens  to  every  sound  he  utters,  and  says  to  it 
all,  "What  does  little  brother  mean?"  Beloved,  happy 
Maria ! 

Jenny  Lind  is  now  in  Havana,  and  people  speak  dif- 
ferently of  the  success  of  her  concerts.  I  believe,  never- 
theless, that  she  will  gain  the  victory  over  her  adversaries, 
who  in  reality  belong  to  the  French  party  in  the  country, 
and  who  contest  her  rank  as  a  great  singer.     She  will  be 


252  HUMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

received  here  in  New  Orleans  with  enthusiasm  ;  every 
heart  is  warm,  every  ear  open  to  her.  She  will  leave  Ha- 
vana just  when  I  am  arriving,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether 
I  shall  see  her. 

I  am  well,  my  beloved  child,  and  in  good  spirits.  Grod 
grant  that  you  are  so  too !  i^nd  you  must  be  so,  with  the 
help  of  homeopathy.  May  iEsculapius  enlighten  you  and 
those  concerned. 

I  shall  soon  write  again  from  Cuba ! 


LETTER   XXX II. 

Havana,  Cuba,  Feb.  5. 

Sweet  Child!  I  am  sitting  beneath  the  warm,  bright 
heavens,  and  the  beautiful  palms  of  the  tropics,  and  it  is 
lovely  and  wonderful !  The  glorious,  delicious  air,  the 
beautiful  palm-trees  are  paradisaical ;  the  rest,  I  suspect, 
affords  pleasure  rather  through  its  novelty,  its  dissimilar- 
ity with  any  thing  that  I  have  already  seen,  than  by  its 
own  great  intrinsic  beauty.  But  the  unusual  and  the 
novel  are  amusing  and  full  of  refreshment ;  so  I  feel  it  in 
this  case,  and  I  am  delighted  to  be  here. 

I  left  New  Orleans  early  in  the  morning  of  the  28th  of 
January.  It  was  a  beautiful,  sunshiny  morning,  and  as 
warm  as  summer.  My  friends  accompanied  me  on  board 
"  The  Philadelphia."  Lerner  H.  came  to  take  leave  of 
me,  and  gave  me  a  red  camellia  still  in  bud.  His  frank, 
cordial  countenance,  and  that  of  Anne  "W.,  with  its  pure 
features,  and  the  quiet  fire  in  the  dark  eyes,  were  the  last 
which  I  saw  in  the  saloon  below  deck. 

When  I  went  on  deck,  the  Crescent  city  stood  bathed 
in  morning  sunlight,  and  the  water  of  the  harbor  lay  like 
a  clear  mirror  in  its  light.  I  stood  and  enjoyed  the  de- 
lightful air  and  the  expansive  scene,  but  when  the  ladies 
came  with  their  "  How  do  you  like  America?"  &c,  my 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  253 

morning  joy  was  disturbed  ;  but  I  placed  them  among 
the  goats. 

We  proceeded  on  our  way,  and  I  seated  myself  with  a 
book  in  my  hand  on  the  piazza  aft,  and  contemplated  the 
shores  and  lived — high  life.  For  there  I  could  be  alone, 
and  the  scenery  of  the  shores  was  like  a  beautiful  South- 
ern fairy  scene.  We  advanced  down  the  Mississippi  upon 
that  arm  which  falls  into  Atchafalaya  Bay,  and  thence  into 
the  Mexican  Grulf.  One  plantation  after  another  shone 
out  upon  the  shore  with  its  white  houses  inclosed  in  thick- 
ets of  orange  and  cedar  trees,  flowering  oleanders,  aloes, 
and  palmettoes.  By  degrees  they  were  more  scattered; 
the  land  descended  more  and  more  till  it  became  one  vast 
swamp,  overgrown  with  grass  and  reeds,  and  without  trees, 
shrubs,  or  human  dwellings,  yet  still  maintaining  itself  at 
a  smooth  level  above  the  water,  till  finally  it  sunk  below, 
but  still  forming  within  it  that  singular,  uniform  figure 
which  is  called  the  delta  of  the  Mississippi,  from  its  re- 
semblance to  the  Greek  letter  of  that  name.  Stems  of 
grass  still  waved  above  the  water,  swayed  to  and  fro  by 
the  waves  and  the  wind.  Then  they  too  disappeared ;  the 
waves  alone  prevailed.  And  now  the  land,  the  vast  con- 
tinent of  North  America,  lay  behind  me,  and  before  me 
the  great  G-ulf  of  Mexico,  with  its  unfathomable  depth, 
the  Southern  Sea,  with  its  islands. 

The  dark  blue,  almost  black  blue  color  of  the  water 
struck  me  greatly.  I  was  told  that  it  is  occasioned  by 
the  extreme  depth.  The  heavens,  with  their  soft  white 
summer  clouds,  arched  themselves  light  blue  over  the 
dark  blue  sea,  which  heaved  and  roared  joyfully  before 
the  fresh,  warm  summer  wind.  Oh,  how  beautiful  it  was ! 
I  inhaled  the  breeze,  and  life,  and  rested  from  thought, 
and  talk,  and  every  thing  which  was  not  a  portion  of  the 
beautiful  life  of  the  moment.  The  sea !  the  sea  has  in  it- 
self an  inexpressibly  rest-giving,  healing,  and  regenera- 
ting power.     If  thou  wilt  commence  within  thyself  and 


254  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

without  a  new  life — cross  the  sea.  Let  the  air  and  the 
life  of  the  sea  hathe  thy  soul  for  days  and  weeks.  Every 
thing  becomes  new  and  fresh  upon  the  sea. 

Thus  did  I  live  the  first  day  on  the  sea;  thus  did  I 
live  the  second  also.  Now,  however,  I  enjoyed  a  book  at 
the  same  time,  Browning's  tragedy,  "  The  Return  of  the 
Druses,"  the  lofty  thought  and  the  life-warm  spirit  of 
which  was  in  harmony  with  the  spectacle  around  me ;  I 
inhaled  from  both  the  boundless,  the  great,  and  the  pro- 
found ;  and  if,  during  all  this,  there  came  one  and  another 
gentleman  with  the  inquiry,  "  How  do  you  like  America?" 
or  with  a  request  for  an  autograph,  it  was  only  like  a  fly 
buzzing  past  ear  and  thought. 

There  was,  however,  one  gentleman  on  board  who  was 
more  agreeable  and  attentive  to  me  than  the  others  were 
disturbing.  The  same  polite  gentleman  who  had  consti- 
tuted himself  my  cavalier  at  the  time  of  our  disaster  on 
Lake  Pontchartrain,  who  conducted  me  to  the  beautiful 
garden  at  night,  and  afterward  to  New  Orleans,  was  now 
on  board  on  his  way  to  Cuba,  seeking  for  a  milder  cli- 
mate than  that  of  the  United  States  during  winter.  This 
gentleman,  Mr.  V.,  is  middle  aged,  with  a  noble  and  good 
countenance,  refined  and  gentle  manners,  and  during  long 
journeys  into  the  East  and  West  he  has  become  acquaint- 
ed with  many  subjects  of  interest.  Now,  again,  is  he  my 
cavalier;  as  a  matter  of  course,  gives  me  his  arm  to  and 
from  meals,  sits  at  table  beside  me,  and  makes  his  atten- 
tions to  me  agreeable  by  his  interesting  and  agreeable  de- 
meanor and  conversation. 

This  vessel  was  not  like  the  other  splendid  and  con- 
venient steamers  to  which  I  had  become  accustomed  in 
America.  All  below  deck  was  crowded  and  dark — cab- 
ins, passages,  eating-rooms.  In  order  to  be  alone,  I  had 
chosen  my  cabin  quite  aft,  where  the  motion  of  the  vessel 
was  most  perceptible ;  here,  however,  I  could  have  a  little 
solitary  three-cornered  cell,  with  a  round  window  opening 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  255 

out  on  the  sea.  Of  sea-sickness  I  was  not  afraid,  and  here 
I  could  be  alone. 

Among  the  passengers  of  interest  on  board  was  an  eld- 
erly man,  one  of  the  richest  planters  of  Louisiana,  and 
his  only  child,  a  young  girl.  Her  mother  had  died  of 
consumption,  and  the  father,  ever  since  the  childhood  of 
his  daughter,  had  endeavored  so  to  bring  her  up  that  she 
might  be  preserved  from  the  dangerous  inheritance.  She 
had  lived  in  great  freedom  in  the  country,  spent  much  of 
her  time  in  the  open  air,  and  did  not  wear  stays.  Thus 
she  grew  up  a  handsome,  blooming  girl,  and,  as  such, 
made  her  appearance  in  society.  After  merely  one  season 
of  tight  lacing  and  dancing  in  the  social  circles  of  New 
Orleans,  the  lovely  flower  was  broken,  and  symptoms  of 
the  disease  which  had  carried  off  the  mother  showed  them- 
selves in  the  daughter.  The  brightness  of  the  eye,  the 
flush  of  the  cheek,  its  hollowness,  the  bearing  of  the  tall, 
slender  figure,  all  testified  of  danger. 

It  was  affecting  to  see  the  old  father  stand  and  gaze 
silently  at  his  daughter,  with  eyes  that  grew  dim  with 
tears — there  was  such  a  speechless  sorrow,  such  a  deep 
feeling  of  helplessness  in  his  expression.  Then  she  would 
look  up  at  him  and  smile  sweetly,  like  a  sunbeam  ;  but  it 
was  evident  that  the  cloud  was  there — was  in  the  ascend- 
ant, and  that  all  the  gold  of  the  millionaire  could  not  pur- 
chase life  for  his  child  and  heiress. 

The  journey  which  they  were  now  making  was,  how- 
ever, an  attempt  at  this ;  they  were  intending  first  to  visit 
Cuba,  and  then  Europe.  A  handsome  and  blooming  young 
girl,  a  cousin  of  the  invalid,  was  her  companion. 

There  were  two  Swedes  also  on  board,  on  their  way  to 
Chagres,  whence  they  would  proceed  to  California.  One 
of  them,  named  Hbrlin,  the  nephew  of  Bishop  H.,  was  an 
agreeable-looking  young  man,  of  cultivated  mind,  and  was 
now  making  his  second  journey  to  the  land  of  gold,  where 
he  already,  as  a  merchant,  had  made  a  considerable  sum. 


256  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  second  day  the  sky  became 
overcast,  and  the  wind  rose.  I  scarcely  believed  my  eyes 
when  I  beheld,  rising  up  to  the  clouds  before  us,  lofty 
mountains  and  craggy  peaks,  not  unlike  a  fortress  with 
walls  and  towers,  seen  in  the  hazy  distance,  and  was  told 
that  that  was  Cuba  !  And  yet  we  could  not  arrive  there 
before  the  morning  of  the  following  day.  I  had  not  yet 
seen  such  lofty  and  bold  mountain  peaks  in  this  western 
land. 

The  night  was  stormy  but  very  warm,  and  I  opened  my 
window  for  the  admission  of  air.  I  could  see  from  my 
bed,  which  was  directly  below  the  window,  the  cloudy  sky 
and  the  stormy  sea  when  the  motion  of  the  vessel  sank  it 
to  the  edge  of  the  water  on  my  side.  The  billows  foamed 
and  hissed  close  to  my  window,  and  soon  came  into  my 
bed.  But  the  water  was  so  warm  that  I  did  not  observe 
it  at  first ;  and  afterward,  when  I  had  to  choose  between 
closing  my  window  and  breathing  the  suffocating  air  of 
the  cabin,  or  to  breathe  the  soft  sea  air,  and  now  and  then 
be  embraced  by  the  salt  sea  waves,  I  chose  the  latter.  I 
only  got  a  little  wet,  but  was  calm  and  happy ;  I  felt  on 
the  most  familiar  and  affectionate  terms  with  the  waves 
and  the  great  sea.  I  lay  there  like  a  child  in  its  comfort- 
able cradle  ;  it  could  not  hurt  me. 

The  following  morning  we  were  in  Havana  harbor. 

The  surf  rose  high,  and  broke  with  violence  against 
the  projecting  rocky  point  on  which  stands  the  fortress 
of  Moro,  with  its  walls  and  towers,  one  of  which  is  very 
lofty,  to  defend  the  narrow  entrance  of  the  harbor.  But 
we  lay  tranquil  in  that  beautiful  almost  circular  harbor, 
as  if  in  the  stillest  lake,  and  the  sun  shone  upon  a  world 
of  new  objects  around  me. 

There  lay  the  large  city,  Havana,  along  the  shore  to  the 
right  of  the  entrance  to  the  harbor,  with  its  low  houses 
of  all  colors,  blue,  yellow,  green,  orange,  like  an  immense 
mass  of  showy  articles  of  porcelain  and  glass  on  a  stall  of 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  257 

fancy-wares  ;  and  no  smoke,  not  the  slightest  column  of 
smoke,  to  give  any  intimation  of  the  atmosphere  of  a  city 
with  its  cooking  and  manufacturing  life,  such  as  I  had 
been  accustomed  to  in  the  American  cities.  Groups  of 
palm-trees  rose  up  among  the  houses.  One  height  to  the 
left  of  us  was  covered  by  a  great  number  of  tall  and  ex- 
traordinary plants,  resembling  lofty  green  candelabra, 
with  many  pairs  of  arms.  Between  the  verdant  hills 
which  surrounded  the  harbor  stood  groups  of  country 
houses  and  groves  of  cocoa  palms  and  other  palm-like 
trees,  and  over  all  this  rested  the  clearest,  softest  heaven, 
and  the  most  delicious  air.  The  water  of  the  harbor 
seemed  as  clear  as  crystal,  and,  above  all,  atmosphere  and 
color  seemed  to  be  of  the  most  diaphonous  clearness  and 
serenity.  Among  the  objects  which  caught  my  sight 
were  the  fortress  in  which  the  state  prisoners  are  kept,  a 
second  prison,  and  a — gallows.  But  those  beautiful  wav- 
ing palms  and  those  verdant  hills  enchanted  my  eyes. 

Small,  half-covered  boats,  rowed  by  men  with  Spanish 
physiognomies,  surrounded  our  vessel,  to  convey  the  pas- 
sengers on  shore.  But  the  passengers  could  not  go  on 
shore.  News  had  reached  the  Spanish  authorities  of  the 
island  that  a  certain  Colonel  White,  one  of  the  leaders  in 
Lopez's  robber-expedition  against  Cuba,  was  on  board 
our  steamer,  and  a  message  now  came  from  them  to  pro- 
hibit the  landing  of  any  of  the  passengers  till  further  in- 
timation was  received  from  them.  This  was  not  quite 
right.  Some  of  the  gentlemen  were  greatly  displeased, 
and  wished  any  thing  but  good  to  Colonel  "White,  who, 
big  and  bony,  with  a  red  face  and  an  Irish  nose,  and  an 
untroubled  and  careless  expression,  now  made  his  appear- 
ance on  deck,  walking  up  and  down,  smoking  a  cigar,  in 
the  midst  of  the  wrathful  glances  of  the  passengers.  He 
merely  intended,  he  said,  to  go  to  Chagres,  on  his  way  to 
California. 

We  lay  for  six  hours  in  the  harbor,  awaiting  our  per- 


258  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

mission  to  land.  For  my  part,  it  did  not  appear  long,  the 
view  of  the  shores  and  the  objects  around  were  so  en- 
chanting to  me.  The  weather  was  divine,  and  we  had 
taken  on  board  great  clusters  of  beautiful  golden  bananas. 
They  were  presented  by  polite  gentlemen,  and  I  break- 
fasted with  delight  upon  my  favorite  fruit,  which  is  as 
delicious  and  beneficial  to  me  as  this  tropical  atmosphere. 
Sugar-cane  was  also  added  to  the  entertainment,  and  en- 
joyed by  many.  It  was  a  regular  tropical  breakfast,  eat- 
en in  the  sunshine  amid  the  harbor. 

At  length  a  boat  approached,  bearing  the  Spanish  flag 
and  several  officers.  They  came  on  board  our  vessel. 
Colonel  White  was  taken  aside,  and  required  to  give  his 
word  of  honor  not  to  land  on  the  island,  but  to  proceed 
on  his  way  to  Chagres  without  leaving  the  vessel.  I  saw 
several  of  the  officers  (handsome  men,  with  refined  fea- 
tures) cast  such  glances  at  the  robber  leader !  There 
were  Spanish  daggers  in  them  ! 

The  Spanish  gentlemen  retired,  and  after  that,  we  in- 
nocent passengers  prepared  to  go  on  shore.  Polite  gentle- 
men took  charge  of  my  landing,  and  it  was  necessary, 
for  I  have  never  experienced  greater  difficulty  in  landing 
than  here.  I  was  finally  intrusted  to  an  American  hotel- 
keeper  in  Havana  (a  Mr.  "Woolcott),  who  conveyed  me 
and  my  effects  on  shore,  and  then  through  the  custom- 
house to  his  hotel,  where  he  promised  our  respectable  cap- 
tain of  "  The  Philadelphia"  to  make  me  comfortable.  And 
before  long  I  was  seated  in  a  large  hall  with  a  marble 
floor,  and  at  a  well-filled  table,  amid  a  numerous  company, 
while  the  beautiful  air  and  light  poured  in  through  the 
open  doors  and  windows,  for  in  Cuba  people  are  not  afraid 
of  sunshine. 

Here  I  ascertained  that  Jenny  Lind  was  still  at  Ha- 
vana, and  would  not  yet  leave  for  a  couple  of  days.  I 
wrote,  therefore,  a  few  lines  to  her,  and  dispatched  them 
by  our  young  countrvman,  Horlin,  who  was  glad  to  be 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  £59 

the  bearer  of  my  letter.  It  was  in  the  evening,  and  after 
that  I  took  my  light  and  went  up  stairs  to  my  chamber 
to  go  to  rest.  But  scarcely  had  I  reached  the  top  of  the 
stairs,  when  I  heard  a  voice  below  mention  my  name.  I 
looked  round  astonished,  and  there,  at  the  foot  of  the 
stairs,  stood  a  lady  holding  by  the  balustrade,  and  look- 
ing up  to  me  with  a  kind  and  beaming  countenance.  It 
was  Jenny  Lind — Jenny  Lind  here,  and  with  that  beam- 
ing, fresh,  joyous  expression  of  countenance  which,  when 
once  seen,  can  never  be  forgotten !  There  is  the  whole 
Swedish  spring  in  it.  I  was  glad.  All  was  forgotten  in 
a  moment  which  had  formerly  come  between  her  and  me. 
I  could  not  but  instantly  go  down,  bend  over  the  balus- 
trade, and  kiss  her.  That  agreeable  young  man,  Max 
Hjortsberg,  was  with  her.  I  shook  hands  with  him,  but 
I  took  Jenny  Lind  with  me  into  my  chamber.  We  had 
never  met  since  that  time  at  Stockholm  when  I  predicted 
for  her  an  European  reputation.  She  had  now  attained 
it  in  a  higher  degree  than  any  other  artist,  because  the 
praise  and  the  laurels  which  she  won  every  where  had 
not  reference  alone  to  her  gifts  as  a  singer. 

I  spent  with  her  the  greater  part  of  the  two  days  while 
she  yet  remained  in  Havana,  partly  with  her  in  her  own 
apartments,  and  partly  in  driving  with  her  on  the  beau- 
tiful promenades  around  the  city,  and  partly  in  my  own 
room,  where  I  sketched  her  portrait ;  and  I  could  not  help 
once  more  loving  her  intensely.  Beneath  the  palm-trees 
of  Cuba  we  talked  only  of  Sweden  and  our  mutual  friends 
there,  and  shed  bitter  tears  together  over  the  painful  loss 
of  others.  "We  talked  much  about  old  friends  and  old 
connections  in  Sweden — nay,  truly  speaking,  we  talked 
of  nothing  else,  because  every  thing  else — honor,  reputa- 
tion, wealth,  all  which  she  had  obtained  out  of  Sweden — 
did  not  seem  to  have  struck  the  least  root  in  her  soul.  I 
should  have  liked  to  have  heard  something  about  them, 
but  she  had  neither  inclination  nor  pleasure  in  speaking 


260  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

of  them.  Sweden  alone,  and  those  old  friends,  as  well  as 
religious  subjects,  lay  uppermost  in  her  soul,  and  of  these 
merely  had  she  any  wish  to  converse.  In  certain  respects 
I  could  not  entirely  agree  with  her  ;  but  she  was  always 
an  unusual  and  superior  character,  and  so  fresh,  so  Swed- 
ish !  Jenny  Lind  is  kindred  with  Trollhatan  and  Niaga- 
ra, and  with  every  vigorous  and  decided  power  of  nature, 
and  the  effects  which  she  produces  resemble  theirs. 

The  Americans  are  enchanted  with  her  beneficence.  I 
can  not  admire  her  for  this ;  I  can  only  congratulate  her 
in  being  able  to  follow  the  impulse  of  her  heart.  But 
that  Jenny  Lind,  with  all  the  power  she  feels  herself  pos- 
sessed of,  with  all  the  sway  she  exercises,  amid  all  the 
praise  and  homage  which  is  poured  upon  her,  and  the 
multitudes  of  people  whom  she  sees  at  her  feet,  still  looks 
up  to  something  higher  than  all  this,  higher  than  herself, 
and  in  comparison  with  which  she  esteems  herself  and  all 
this  to  be  mean — that  glance,  that  thirst  after  the  holy 
and  the  highest,  which  during  many  changes  always 
again  returns  and  shows  itself  to  be  a  dominant  feature 
in  Jenny  Lind — this  is,  in  my  eyes,  her  most  unusual 
and  her  noblest  characteristic. 

She  was  very  amiable  and  affectionate  to  me ;  yes,  so 
much  so  that  it  affected  me.  Little  did  I  expect  that  be- 
neath the  palms  of  the  tropics  we  should  come  so  near  to 
each  other! 

I  met  at  dinner  at  her  house  the  whole  of  her  traveling 
party — Belletti,  Mademoiselle  Aehrstrom,  Mr.  Barnum  and 
his  daughter,  and  many  others.  The  best  understanding 
seems  to  prevail  between  her  and  them.  She  praised  them 
all,  and  praised  highly  the  behavior  of  Mr.  Barnum  to  her. 
She  was  not  now  giving  any  concerts  at  Cuba,  and  was 
enjoying  the  repose,  and  the  beautiful  tropical  scenery 
and  air.  She  sang  for  me  unasked  (for  I  would  not  ask 
her  to  sing)  one  of  Lindblad's  songs — 
"  Talar  jag  sae  hor  du  mig" — 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  261 

and  her  voice  seemed  to  me  as  fresh  and  youthful  as 
ever. 

One  day  she  drove  me  to  the  Bishop's  Garden,  which 
was  "beautiful,  beautiful!"  she  said;  beautiful  park-like 
grounds,  near  Havana,  where  she  was  anxious  to  show 
me  the  bread-fruit-tree,  and  many  other  tropical  plants, 
which  proves  her  fresh  taste  for  nature.  In  the  evening 
we  drove  along  the  magnificent  promenade,  el  Passeo  di 
Isabella  seconda,  which  extends  for  certainly  upward  of 
three  English  miles  between  broad  avenues  of  palm  and 
other  tropical  trees,  beds  of  flowers,  marble  statues  and 
fountains,  and  which  is  the  finest  promenade  any  one  can 
imagine,  to  say  nothing  of  its  being  under  the  clear  heav- 
en of  Cuba.  The  moon  was  in  her  first  quarter,  and  float- 
ed like  a  little  boat  above  the  western  horizon.  Jenny 
Lind  made  me  observe  its  different  position  here  to  what 
it  has  with  us,  where  the  new  moon  is  always  upright, 
or  merely  in  a  slanting  direction  to  the  earth.  The  en- 
tire circle  of  the  moon  appeared  unusually  clear. 

That  soft  young  moonlight  above  the  verdant,  billowy 
fields,  with  their  groups  of  palm-trees,  was  indescribably 
beautiful. 

I  fancied  that  Jenny  Lind  was  tired  of  her  wandering 
life  and  her  role  of  singer.  She  evidently  wished  for  a 
life  of  quieter  and  profounder  character.  We  talked  of — 
marriage  and  domestic  life. 

Of  a  certainty  a  change  of  this  kind  is  approaching  for 
Jenny  Lind.  But  will  it  satisfy  her  soul,  and  be  enough 
for  her?     I  doubt. 

She  left  that  evening  for  New  Orleans,  out  of  spirits, 
and  not  happy  in  her  own  mind.  The  vessel  by  which 
she  sailed  was  crowded  with  Californian  adventurers,  four 
hundred  it  was  said,  who  were  returning  to  New  Orleans; 
and  Jenny  Lind  had  just  heard  a  rumor  that  Captain 
West,  who  had  brought  her  over  from  England  to  Amer- 
ica, had  perished  in  a  disastrous  voyage  at  sea.     All  this 


262  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD 

depressed  her  mind,  and  neither  my  encouragement — I 
went  on  board  the  vessel  to  take  leave  of  her,  to  give  her 
my  good  wishes  and  a  bouquet  of  roses — nor  the  captain's 
offer  of  his  cabin  and  saloon,  where,  above  deck,  she 
might  have  remained  undisturbed  by  the  Californians  be- 
low, were  able  to  cheer  her.  She  was  pale,  and  said  little. 
She  scarcely  looked  at  my  poor  roses,  although  they  were 
the  most  beautiful  I  could  get  in  Havana;  when,  how- 
ever, I  again  was  seated  in  my  little  gondola,  and  was 
already  at  some  distance  from  the  vessel,  I  saw  Jenny 
Lind  lean  over  the  railing  toward  me. 

And  all  the  beautiful,  regular  countenances  of  the  West 
paled  below  the  beaming,  living  beauty  of  expression  in 
the  countenance  which  I  then  saw,  bathed  in  tears,  kiss- 
ing the  roses,  kissing  her  hands  to  me,  glancing,  beaming 
a  whole  summer  of  affluent,  changing,  enchanting,  warm 
inward  life.  She  felt  that  she  had  been  cold  to  me,  and 
she  would  now  make  amends  for  it. 

And  if  I  should  never  again  see  Jenny  Lind,  I  shall  al- 
ways henceforth  see  her  thus,  as  at  this  moment,  always 
love  her  thus. 

I  have  now  been  six  days  in  this  very  good  but  very 
expensive  hotel.  I  pay  five  dollars  a  day  for  a  small 
chamber,  which  one  can  hardly  imagine  more  scantily 
furnished,  and  in  a  couple  more  days  shall  be  obliged  to 
pay  six  dollars,  or  admit  some  unknown  guest  into  my 
room ;  for  in  two  more  days  a  steam-boat  comes  in,  and 
new  guests  from  New  Orleans.  I  have,  therefore,  been 
inquiring  after  a  new  lodging,  but  it  is  not  here  as  in 
America.  In  the  mean  time,  kind,  amiable  people,  partly 
Germans,  partly  English  and  Americans,  desirous  of  mak- 
ing the  place  as  agreeable  to  me  as  possible,  have  inter- 
ested themselves  about  my  affairs,  and,  in  consequence  of 
their  kindness,  I  shall  to-morrow  remove  for  a  few  days 
to  a  country  house  just  by  the  Bishop's  beautiful  garden, 
where  I  can,  in  freedom,  make  acquaintance  with  the  trees 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  263 

and  flowers  of  Cuba.     Is  not  that  charming  ?     Is  not  my 
little  traveling  fairy  careful  of  me  ? 

I  have  hitherto  spent  my  day  as  follows.  At  half  past 
seven  in  the  morning  Mrs.  Mary  enters  my  chamber  with 
a  cup  of  coffee  and  a  little  wheaten  bread,  which  looks 
very  enticing.  And  Mrs.  Mary  is  an  Irish  woman,  one  of 
the  most  excellent,  nicest,  most  thoughtful,  and  good- 
hearted  beings  one  can  imagine,  and  the  greatest  treasure 
of  this  hotel,  to  me  at  least.  Mrs.  Mary's  good  temper 
and  kind  solicitude  give  to  this  hotel  a  feeling  of  home, 
and  I  should  get  on  infinitely  well  here  if  the  place  were 
not  so  terribly  dear. 

After  I  have  drank  my  coffee  and  eaten  my  bread,  I  go 
out,  first  to  La  Plaza  des  Armas,  where  the  governor,  the 
intendant,  and  the  great  admiral,  the  three  great  digni- 
taries of  the  island,  have  their  palaces,  occupying  three 
sides  of  the  square,  the  fourth  of  which  is  an  inclosed 
plantation,  between  the  iron  railing  of  which  is  seen  a 
marble  bust  standing  on  its  pedestal,  and  beyond  this  a 
chapel.  This  is  the  place  where  Catholic  mass  was  first 
performed  by  order  of  Columbus.  The  bust  is  his,  and  it 
and  the  chapel  have  been  erected  there  in  memory  of  the 
first  divine  service  on  the  island.  A  large  white  marble 
statue,  that  of  Charles  Y.,  I  believe,  stands  in  the  middle  of 
the  square,  surrounded  by  lofty,  magnificent  king-palms, 
regular  kings  among  trees,  and  around  these  small  plan- 
tations of  other  trees  and  shrubs.  Among  these  I  have 
observed  one  tree,  which  has  foliage  and  a  head  very  like 
our  lime-tree,  although  not  so  large,  with  fire-colored  flow- 
ers not  unlike  our  Indian  cross-flower,  but  darker  in  color; 
and  shrubs  too,  which  have  the  same  kind  of  flowers,  and 
upon  the  stems  of  which  small,  splendid  green  lizards  dart 
about  and  gaze  quite  calmly  at  me,  while  I  gaze  at  them. 
A  number  of  white  marble  seats  are  placed  here,  where 
people  may  rest  in  the  shade  of  the  palm-trees.  But  they 
do  not  cast  much  shade,  and  one  has  to  keep  watch  for 


264  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

the  moment,  and  for  the  spot  where  their  proud  crowns 
afford  a  shelter  from  the  sun.  But  it  is  a  pleasure  to  see 
their  branches  move,  rustling  in  the  wind,  for  their  mo- 
tion is  majestic,  and  graceful  at  the  same  time ! 

Hence  I  go  to  an  esplanade,  or  lofty  terrace,  called  La 
Cortine  de  Valdez,  raised  along  the  harbor  on  the  oppo- 
site side  to  the  Moro.  It  is  a  short  promenade,  but  has  the 
most  beautiful  view.  And  here  I  wander,  to  inhale  the 
sea  air  and  to  watch  the  waves,  if  it  be  calm,  break  in  lofty 
white-crested  surf  against  the  rocks  of  the  Moro,  which 
exclude  the  tumult  of  the  ocean,  and  leave  the  harbor 
calm ;  watch,  through  the  mouth  of  the  harbor,  white  sails 
skimming  over  the  vast  blue  sea ;  watch  little  lizards  dart 
out  and  in,  or  lie  gently  basking  in  the  sun  on  the  low 
walls  which  run  along  the  esplanade,  and  white  doves  fly 
down  to  drink  at  a  white  marble  basin  below  a  lovely 
monument  in  honor  of  Valdez,  which  terminates  the  prom- 
enade. From  the  white  wall  of  this  monument  a  jet  of 
clear  water  is  thrown,  which  falls  into  a  basin. 

At  ten  o'clock  I  am  again  at  home,  and  eating  a  second 
breakfast,  with  a  large  company,  in  the  light  marble  hall, 
at  an  abundant  table,  but  where  I  take  merely  coffee,  my 
beloved  Carolina  rice,  and  an  egg.  After  that  I  go  to  my 
room,  write  letters,  and  draw  or  paint  till  dinner.  After 
dinner,  one  or  another  of  my  new  friends  here  call  in  their 
volante,  such  being  the  name  of  the  carriages  of  Cuba,  to 
drive  me  out  upon  one  of  the  beautiful  and  magnificent 
public  roads  beyond  the  city.  In  the  evening,  after  tea,  I 
go  up  to  the  roof  of  the  house,  which  is  flat,  as  are  all  the 
roofs  here,  and  is  called  azoteon,  surrounded  by  a  low 
parapet,  upon  which  stand  urns,  which  are  generally  gray, 
with  raised  green  ornaments,  and  little  gilt  flames  at 
the  top.  Here  I  walk  alone  till  late  into  the  night,  con- 
templating the  starry  heavens  above  me,  and  the  city  be- 
low my  feet.  The  Moro-light,  as  the  lofty  beacon-fire  in 
the  Moro  fortress  is  called,  is  kindled,  and  beams  like  a 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  265 

large,  steadily-gleaming  star,  with  the  most  resplendent 
light  over  the  ocean  and  city.  The  air  is  delicious  and 
calm,  or  breathes  merely  like  a  slumbering  child ;  and 
around  me  I  hear  on  all  sides  the  sweetest,  most  serene 
little  twitter,  not  unlike  that  of  sparrows  with  us,  but  more 
serene,  or  with  a  softer  sound.  I  am  told  that  is  the  lit- 
tle lizards,  which  are  here  found  in  such  abundance,  and 
which  have  the  gift  of  voice. 

The  city  has  a  most  peculiar  aspect.  The  houses  are 
low,  and  for  the  most  part  of  but  one  story,  never  above 
two  ;  the  streets  are  narrow,  so  that  in  many  cases  the  lin- 
en cloth,  which  serves  as  a  shade  to  the  shops,  is  stretched 
over  the  street  from  one  side  to  the  other.  The  walls  of 
houses,  palaces,  or  towers  are  colored  blue,  yellow,  green, 
or  orange,  and  frequently  adorned  with  fresco-painting. 
The  glare  of  the  sunlight  on  white  walls  is  feared,  as  in- 
jurious to  the  sight,  and  hence  they  are  all  tinted.  No 
smoke  is  visible,  nor  yet  a  single  chimney.  Flat  roofs  are 
universal,  with  their  parapets  of  stone  or  iron,  and  their 
urns  with  bronze  flames.  I  can  not  understand  where  the 
fires  are,  nor  what  becomes  of  the  smoke.  The  atmos- 
phere of  the  city  is  as  clear  as  crystal.  The  narrow 
streets  are  not  paved,  and  when  it  rains,  as  it  has  done  in 
torrents  for  a  couple  of  days,  immense  puddles  and  holes 
are  the  consequence,  and  when  it  dries  again,  a  great  deal 
of  dust.  Narrow  causeways,  scarcely  wide  enough  for 
two  persons  to  pass,  line  each  side  of  the  street,  and  along 
the  streets  rush  about  in  all  directions,  and  wind  in  and 
out,  a  sort  of  huge  insect,  with  immense  hind  legs  and  a 
long  proboscis,  upon  which  stands  a  tall  black  horn,  or 
tower-like  elevation — so  at  least  appeared  to  me  at  first 
the  Cuban  equipages  or  volantes,  which  constitute  the 
only  kind  of  Havana  carriage.  If,  however,  you  wish  to 
take  a  clear  survey,  you  will  find  that  they  resemble  a 
species  of  cabriolet,  but  the  two  immense  wheels  are  placed 
behind  the  body  of  the  carriage,  which  rests  upon  springs 

Vol.  II.— M 


266  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

between  the  wheels  and  the  horses,  and  for  the  most  part 
is  supported  by  them.  A  postillion,  who  is  always  a  ne- 
gro in  large,  projecting  riding-boots,  is  mounted  upon  the 
horse,  which  is  considerably  in  advance  of  the  carriage  it- 
self. This  driver  is  called  calashero,  and  both  he  and  the 
horse  are  sometimes  richly  caparisoned  with  silver,  often 
to  the  value  of  several  thousand  dollars.  The  whole  equi- 
page is  of  an  unusual  length,  and  reminds  me  of  some 
queer  kind  of  harry-long-legs. 

When  the  volante  is  in  great  state,  or  prepared  for  a 
longer  journey,  it  has  two  horses,  or  even  three.  The  sec- 
ond horse  is  guided  by  the  hand  of  the  calashero,  and  runs 
a  little  ahead  of  the  first. 

When  the  volante  is  in  great  state,  you  will  see  two  or 
three  signoras  seated  in  it,  always  without  bonnets,  and 
sometimes  with  flowers  in  their  hair  ;  bare  arms  and  neck, 
and  white  dresses,  as  if  attired  for  a  ball.  When  they  are 
three  in  number,  the  youngest  sits  in  the  middle,  a  little 
in  advance  of  the  other  two.  One  sees  such  often  on  the 
public  drives  in  the  afternoon,  or  in  the  evening  on  La 
Plaza  des  Annas,  where  there  is  music  and  a  great  con- 
course. It  is  only  seldom  that  a  veil  is  seen  worn  over 
the  head  and  shoulders,  and  scarcely  ever  a  bonnet,  which 
seems  to  belong  to  the  foreigner. 

When  I  first  saw  the  rocking  motion  of  the  volante  as 
it  drove  along  the  streets,  I  thought  "  that  must  be  an 
extremely  disagreeable  carriage !"  but  when  I  was  seated 
in  one,  I  seemed  to  myself  rocked  on  a  cloud.  I  have 
never  felt  an  easier  motion. 

The  Creole  ladies,  that  is,  the  native  ladies  of  the  isl- 
and— do  not  make  use  of  any  defense  from  sun  or  wind, 
neither  do  they  need  it.  After  the  hour  of  noon,  when 
the  breeze  comes  in  from  the  sea,  the  air  is  not  hot,  nei- 
ther does  the  sun  burn  here  as. on  the  Continent.  The 
complexion  of  the  Creoles  is  pale,  but  perfectly  healthy, 
and  has  a  soft,  light  olive  tint,  which,  together  with  their 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  267 

beautiful  dark,  "but,  at  the  same  time,  soft  eyes,  gives  a 
piquancy  to  their  appearance.  The  priests,  in  their  long 
cloaks  and  queer,  large  hats,  go  about  on  foot.  The 
greater  number  of  the  people  in  the  streets  are  negroes 
and  mulattoes  ;  even  in  the  shops  one  sees  mulattoes,  es- 
pecially in  the  cigar-shops.  Cigars  are  smoked  univers- 
ally, especially  a  small  kind  called  cigaritos.  The  col- 
ored population  seem  to  intoxicate  themselves  with  tobac- 
co-smoke. I  frequently  see  negroes  and  mulattoes  sitting 
dozing  before  the  shops  with  cigars  in  their  mouths.  The 
calashero,  when  he  waits  before  a  house,  alights,  seats 
himself  by  the  carriage,  smokes,  and  shuts  his  eyes  in  the 
sunshine.  But  where  goes  all  the  smoke  ?  How  can  it 
be  ?     It  must  be  absorbed  by  the  sea-air. 

I  must,  however,  make.an  end  of  my  day.  After  I  have 
walked  about  or  sat  upon  the  azoteon  till  toward  mid- 
night, enjoying  the  air,  which,  it  seems  to  me,  is  possessed 
of  a  peculiarly  sanative,  beneficial  life,  and  a  banana,  which 
has  the  same  qualities,  and  my  own  solitary  thoughts,  I 
retire  to  my  chamber,  and  go  to  rest  in  a  bed  without  any 
bedding  excepting  a  pillow  and  a  coverlet,  but  on  which  I 
repose  excellently,  and  sleep  to  the  fanning  of  the  wind, 
which  enters  playfully,  as  it  were,  through  the  iron  grat- 
ing of  the  door  and  window,  to  which  there  is  neither 
glass  nor  shutter. 

My  chamber,  and  a  row  of  the  other  chambers  also,  have 
each  an  outlet  to  the  roof,  which  is  very  agreeable  to  me, 
as  I  can  thus  have  air  at  any  time,  and  I  have,  from  my 
roof,  merely  to  ascend  a  little  flight  of  steps  to  arrive  at 
the  azoteon  proper.  The  azoteon  is  the  principal  place  of 
assembly  for  the  Cuban  families  when  in  the  evening  they 
wish  to  enjoy  la  brise. 

I  must  now  tell  you  something  about  the  family  which 
has  received  me  with  so  much  kindness.  They  are,  in 
the  first  place,  an  English  family  of  the  name  of  F.,  a 
highly-esteemed  commercial  house  in   the   city,  and    a 


268  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

young  married  couple,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  S.,  the  son-in-law 
and  daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  F.  Mr.  F.  was  formerly 
the  agent  in  Cuba  for  the  house  of  Rothschild  in  London, 
but  he  has  resigned  his  business  in  favor  of  his  son-in- 
law,  Mr.  S.,  who  is  a  German. 

Mr.  F.  is  a  young-elderly  man,  with  a  countenance  and 
demeanor  full  of  benevolence  and  good  humor,  lively  and 
witty  in  society.  His  wife  is  of  Danish  descent,  a  native 
of  the  Danish  island  St.  Croix,  and  has  been  a  celebrated 
beauty,  and  even  still,  when  about  fifty,  is  a  very  hand- 
some lady,  with  delicate  features,  and  an  expression  of 
goodness  which  fascinates  me.  The  house  is  full  of  hand- 
some children,  four  sons  and  five  daughters ;  the  daugh- 
ters, in  particular,  are  handsome,  and  the  two  eldest  mar- 
ried daughters  are  infinitely  charming.  The  youngest  of 
these  is  a  blonde,  and  lovely,  like  a  northern  maiden  of  the 
old  ballads.  The  eldest  son  of  the  family  has  returned 
home  from  England  with  his  wife,  a  young  beauty,  with 
roses  on  her  cheeks,  such  as  only  the  daughters  of  Europe 
can  show.  The  whole  house  is  full  of  beauty,  love,  and 
gladness,  with  the  newly-married,  newly-betrothed,  love- 
tokens,  and  glances  in  every  corner.  The  family  has,  be- 
sides, a  cheerful  circle  of  acquaintance,  where  gentlemen 
from  Europe,  Germans,  Englishmen,  Scotch,  or  French, 
come  with  unstinted  music  and  merriment. 

Good  Mrs.  F.  drove  me  last  evening  in  her  volante  to 
the  villa  of  her  daughter  and  son-in-law,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  S., 
at  a  village  two  miles  distant  from  Havana.  There  we 
found  a  company  of  handsome  people  assembled,  not  in- 
vited, but  because  it  was  the  reception  evening  of  the 
family.  They  amused  themselves  with  tableaux  vivans, 
music,  and  dancing.  Those  remarkably  handsome  ladies 
(regularly  enchanting  in  the  costumes  of  the  tableaux), 
those  well-bred,  cheerful  gentlemen,  that  excellent  music 
— the  young  sisters  F.  sing  extremely  well — that  Cuban 
contra-dance,  and  its  music  so  peculiar,  so  delineative  of 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  269 

the  Creole  temperament,  inasmuch  as  it  expresses  an 
effeminate,  playful,  pleasure-loving,  and  yet  half  melan- 
choly life,  in  which  the  breezes  seem  to  waft,  and  the 
palm  branches  to  rustle  ;  that  cheerful,  free  tone  of  social 
intercourse,  the  many  languages  which  are  spoken,  the 
beautiful  evenings,  the  soft  winds  and  stars  of  night 
which  glance  in  at  open  doors  and  windows — all  these 
made  this  evening  one  of  the  most  beautiful,  the  most 
perfectly  festal  occasions  that  I  ever  witnessed.  Nothing 
was  tiresome,  nothing  contracted  ;  one  rested,  and  enjoy- 
ed, and  amused  one's  self  at  the  same  time. 

I  have  seen  mass  performed  twice  in  the  early  morning 
at  the  Cathedral  church  here;  I  have  seen  there  such 
great  priestly  show  and  priestly  magnificence  in  full 
bloom,  that  one  might  fancy  one's  self  removed  two  or 
three  centuries  backward  in  time ;  I  scarcely  saw  any 
praying  in  the  church,  and  the  priests  marched  hither 
and  thither,  and  swung  smoking  censers,  and  lighted  can- 
dles, and  busied  themselves  with  divers  ecclesiastical  cer- 
emonies, evidently  without  any  devotion  at  all.  But 
there  was  supplication  in  the  music;  the  music  was  beau- 
tiful, and  replete  with  heartfelt  prayer.  A  pious  and  in- 
spired spirit  had  breathed  its  soul  into  it,  and  I  prayed  in 
unison  with  it.  The  Cathedral  is  handsome  and  light, 
although  not  large.  It  contains  some  pictures  which  gave 
me  pleasure.  One  of  these  represents  the  spirits  in  Pur- 
gatory ;  above  the  flames  float  the  Madonna  and  Child, 
glancing  down  with  compassionate  eyes.  Some  of  the 
souls,  becoming  aware  of  them,  are  captivated  by  their 
beauty,  and  while  they  gaze  upon  them  with  involuntary 
prayer,  they  are  raised  out  of  the  flames,  without  them- 
selves being  conscious  of  it. 

Another  picture  represents  the  Holy  Virgin  standing 
upon  the  globe.  Her  glance  is  in  heaven ;  her  prayers, 
her  whole  soul  lives  there,  and  without  apparent  intention 
she  treads  upon  the  serpent,  which  glides  away  over  the 


270  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

earth.  These  pictures  are  evidently  the  work  of  an  age 
of  profound  spiritual  inspiration. 

The  bones  of  Columbus  rest  in  the  Cathedral.  A  white 
marble  tablet  in  the  wall  near  the  chancel  points  out  the 
spot.  This  tablet  presents  also  his  head  in  bass-relief, 
below  which  are  some  symbols  of  a  very  common  char- 
acter, and  below  these,  again,  a  poor,  ill-constructed  in- 
scription, abounding  in  platitude,  the  purport  of  which  is 
that  his  dust  reposes  here,  but  his  fame  shall  live  for 
many  centuries. 

One  day,  when  I  visited  the  church  in  company  with 
Mr.  V.,  we  were  attended  by  a  youth  who  seemed  to  be 
one  of  the  young  neophytes.  "When  he  heard  that  Mr.  V. 
had  been  at  Jerusalem,  he  was  delighted,  and  so  anxious 
to  hear  about  the  holy  grave  and  the  holy  places  near  the 
city,  and  then  was  so  zealous  to  show  us  every  remark- 
able thing  about  the  church,  that  it  was  a  pleasure  to  see 
him.  This  youth  had  evidently,  as  yet,  an  uncorrupted 
mind  and  a  firm  faith. 

Yesterday,  during  a  great  procession  in  the  church,  and 
a  great  kissing  of  the  hand  of  the  bishop,  who  was  a  hand- 
some prelate,  with  fat  white  hands,  covered  with  spark- 
ling jewels,  I  saw  one  of  the  great  gentlemen — I  fancy  it 
was  the  Admiral — laugh  as  he  knelt  down  before  the  holy 
father,  and  make  pretense  of  kissing  his  hand ;  and,  of  a 
truth,  the  Bishop  smiled  too.  They  both  knew  that  it 
was  merely  a  great  show.  The  costume  of  the  priests  and 
the  official  corps,  as  they  sat  together  in  arm-chairs  in  the 
church,  produced  as  picturesque  and  imposing  an  effect  as 
any  costume  can  nowadays,  and  I  am  quite  willing  to  feel 
its  full  effect,  so  long,  at  least,  as  I  do  not  see  a  deceitful 
mask  in  it. 

I  have  heard  many  complaints  of  the  government  of  the 
island,  complaints  of  monopolies,  injustice,  and  official 
robbery  of  all  kinds,  as  well  among  government  officials 
as  lawyers.     They  are  said  literally  to  devour  the  portions 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  271 

of  the  widow  and  the  fatherless.  I  have  heard  almost  in- 
credible stories  of  this  kind.  People  are  now  hoping  great 
things  from  the  new  Governor-general  Concha,  who  ar- 
rived here  from  Spain  two  months  since.  The  last  deposed 
governor  distinguished  himself  by  the  peculation  through 
which  he  became  a  rich  man.  The  clergy  are  said  to  be 
quite  unclerical,  the  greater  number  living  in  open  defi- 
ance of  their  vows  ;  and  religion  here  is,  I  am  told — dead. 
Traffic  in  slaves  is  also  carried  on  in  secret.  The  govern- 
ment is  cognizant  of  the  fact,  but  winks  at  it — nay,  in- 
deed, it  is  said  that  it  derives  a  gain  from  it. 

Ah !  that  this  earthly  paradise  should  be  so  poisoned  by 
the  old  serpent ! 

Serro,  Feb.  10th. 

I  have  lived  for  the  last  three  days  at  a  rural  abode  in 
the  little  rural  village,  or  small  town  of  Serro,  two  miles 
from  Havana,  with  a  Grerman-American  family  of  the 
name  of  S.,  who  have  kindly  invited  me  to  spend  a  few 
days  with  them,  to  know  something  of  life  in  the  country, 
which  I  greatly  wished,  and  to  make  a  closer  acquaintance 
with  the  Bishop's  beautiful  garden,  which  lies  very  near 
their  home.  I  have  a  little  newly-built  house  to  myself, 
consisting  of  two  airy  rooms.  Below  the  window  of  my 
sleeping-room  stands  a  little  clump  of  banana-trees  laden 
with  their  beautiful  fruit,  and  the  light  green  ell-broad 
leaves,  which  are  as  soft  as  velvet,  are  wafted  by  the  wind, 
and  immediately  beyond  them  roars  a  little  mountain 
stream.  Beyond  our  little  garden,  and  just  opposite  to  it, 
I  see,  within  a  blue-painted  inclosure  on  a  little  hill,  a 
group  of  glorious  cocoa  palms,  poplars,  and  bamboo-trees, 
beneath  which  a  fountain  falls  into  a  magnificent  marble 
basin.  The  whole  village  is  composed  of  gardens  with 
their  little  dwellings,  and  beyond  them  the  extensive  plain 
is  scattered  over  with  king  and  cocoa  palms,  and  trees, 
the  names  of  which  I  am  yet  unacquainted  with. 

The  first  night  that  I  slept  here  on  my  cool  camp-bed- 


272  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

stead,  I  heard  the  stream  roaring  along,  and  the  hanana 
leaves  whispering  outside  my  window,  and  felt  the  de- 
licious night-winds  around  me  like  the  wings  of  angels ; 
it  was  to  me  enchantingly  heautiful — so  beautiful  that  I 
could  scarcely  sleep.  I  was  obliged  to  get  up  many  times 
to  contemplate  the  heavens  and  the  earth.  I  thus  beheld 
a  constellation  of  incomparable  magnificence  and  brilliancy 
ascend  above  the  hill  of  the  cocoa  palms.  Could  it  be  the 
ship  Argo  or  the  constellation  Sagittarius  ?  I  do  not  as 
yet  know.  I  am  still  ignorant  what  constellations  of  the 
southern  hemisphere  may  be  seen  here.  I  have  not  yet 
met  with  any  one  who  can  tell  me.  People  here  think  a 
deal  more  about  trade  and  pleasure  than  about  the  stars. 
When  the  blush  of  morning  appeared,  amid  beautiful  gold 
and  rosy  clouds,  I  saw  the  morning  star  standing  above 
the  earth,  wonderfully  bright  and  large.  I  do  not  know 
why,  but  it  produced  in  me  a  melancholy  effect.  It  seem- 
ed to  me  like  an  eye  full  of  a  bright  but  sorrowful  con- 
sciousness, gazing  calmly,  with  deep  earnestness,  down 
upon  earth,  as  if  it  knew  of  the  sin  and  the  sorrow  of  earth. 
That  bright  star  stood  above  the  beautiful  island  like  its 
clear,  accusing  conscience. 

There  had  been  for  the  last  two  days  cold  weather, 
with  rain  in  torrents;  but  the  morning  was  bright  and 
beautiful,  and  I  wished  after  breakfast  to  visit  the  Bish- 
op's garden,  which  lies  only  a  few  minutes'  walk  from 
our  Serro.  Mrs.  S.  said,  "You  will  not  be  able  to  get 
there ;  you  will  stick  fast  in  the  mud  after  all  this  rain." 

I  would  not  Jbelieve  her,  and  persisted  in  going.  But 
she  was  right.  I  actually  could  not  get  along;  at  every 
step  my  feet  stuck  fast  in  the  thick  mud,  the  quality  of 
which  I  had  never  before  had  any  conception  of.  I  was 
obliged  to  return,  and  wait  till  the  sun  had  dried  the 
earth,  which  it  is  not  very  long  in  doing.  These  torrents 
of  rain  which  have  met  me  in  Cuba,  and  which  are  a  lit- 
tle inconvenient  to  me,  are,  it  is  said,  the  parting  saluta- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  273 

tions  of  the  rainy  season,  which  is  now  just  at  an  end, 
and  which  gives  place  to  the  dry  season,  la  Secca,  which 
extends  from  the  present  time  into  May.  Both  yesterday 
and  to-day  there  has  been  unremitting  sunshine,  so  that 
I  have  to-day  been  to  the  Bishop's  garden;  and  wander- 
ing under  palms,  bamooos,  and  many  kinds  of  beautiful 
tropical  trees,  among  splendid  unusual  flowers  and  but- 
terflies, have  celebrated  alone  the  most  glorious  morning, 
a  spirit  of  thanksgiving  among  the  silent  spirits  of  nature. 
Ah !  when  the  Creator  allows  us  here  on  earth  to  behold 
such  beauty,  allows  us  to  experience  such  joy,  what  treas- 
ures of  His  kingdom  has  He  not  in  store  for  His  children, 
risen  again  and  enfranchised  from  dust  on  the  other  side 
the  grave ! 

The  beauty  of  these  trees  and  flowers,  and  of  this  air, 
give  me  a  foretaste  of  a  glory  of  creation,  a  fullness  of 
existence  in  the  consciousness  of  natural  life,  which  ex- 
ceeds all  that  I  have  hitherto  imagined.  When  nature, 
in  a  perfected  world,  becomes  a  thanksgiving  song  of 
beauty,  harmonious  delight,  and  magnificence,  what  will 
not  life  become,  what  praises  shall  we  not  sing?  We  are 
not  bold  enough,  we  are  not  rich  enough  in  imagination, 
as  we  glance  toward  the  kingdom  of  heaven  beyond  the 
grave ;  we  are  too  poor  in  faith  to  conceive  of  the  power 
and  affluence  of  the  Creator. 

Palms,  laurel-trees,  groves  of  bamboos,  yellow  jasmines, 
which  fling  their  fragrant  branches  from  stem  to  stem; 
the  beautiful  air  filled  with  the  purest  life,  all  these  whis- 
pered to  me  words  and  thoughts  of  that  morning  which 
is  to  be.  And  I  walked  alone  through  these  magnificent 
avenues,  amid  those  silent  groves,  where  hundreds  of 
splendid  butterflies,  all  unknown  to  me,  fluttered  up  out 
of  the  moist  grasses,  and  I  praised  (rod  in  the  name  of 
all  existence !     How  happy  I  was  that  morning ! 

"  But  the  slaves — the  slavery  which  surrounds  this 
Eden!"  you  will  say.     Yes,  I  know;  but  slavery  must 

M2 


274  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

cease,  and  the  fetters  of  the  slave  fall  from  him ;  but  the 
goodness  and  magnificence  of  God  will  remain  forever. 
I  lived  here  in  the  contemplation  of  this,  and  a  day  will 
come  when  the  slave  shall  do  so  too. 

The  garden,  or,  more  correctly  speaking,  the  park,  is 
much  neglected  since  the  death 'of  the  old  bishop,  and 
since  a  terrible  hurricane  in  1848,  which  entirely  de- 
stroyed the  house,  of  which  merely  a  ruin  now  remains, 
and  injured  many  trees  and  statues ;  but  I  am  pleased 
with  the  less  trim  condition  of  the  park,  because  it  all 
the  more  resembles,  from  that  very  cause,  a  beautiful 
natural  scene. 

I  dined  yesterday  at  the  villa  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  S.  with 
a  select  party.  The  dinner  was  served  in  the  veranda 
opening  into  the  garden,  which  afforded  us  a  glorious 
view  beyond  it  over  the  island.  This  garden  was,  like 
other  ornamental  gardens  which  I  have  seen  here,  very 
ornamental,  but  stiff.  Palms  of  many  kinds,  splendid 
flowers  in  beds,  bordering  well-graveled  or  flagged  paths, 
marble  basins  with  gold  fish,  &c.  A  beautiful  little  boy 
of  two  years  old  is  the  best  treasure  of  the  house. 

In  the  evening  I  was  once  more  with  the  F.  family ; 
saw  amiable  and  cheerful  young  people  dancing  in  the 
joy  of  their  hearts,  and  heard  again  that  enchanting  Cu- 
ban dance-music.  It  has  a  broken,  strange,  but  extreme- 
ly animated  movement.  My  kind,  agreeable  host,  Mr. 
S.,  plays  it  on  the  piano-forte  with  the  musical  genius  of 
a  German. 

Feb.  11th.  Yesterday  was  Sunday,  and  although  our 
little  village  of  Serro  did  not  go  to  church — because  there 
is  no  church  there — it  still  had  quite  a  holiday  appear- 
ance. At  noon  I  heard,  from  various  distances  the  living 
cadence  of  the  African  drum,  not  unlike  the  sound  of  the 
flail  in  the  barns  around  us  at  threshing  time,  only  that 
here  it  has  a  much  more  animated  life.  This  was  the 
sign  that  the  dances  of  the  free  negroes  were  now  com- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  275 

mencing  at  their  assembling-places  in  the  neighborhood. 
My  host  had  the  kindness  to  accompany  me  to  one  of 
these,  very  near  our  Serro.  I  found  a  large  room,  very 
like  those  of  public  houses  among  us,  in  which  I  saw  these 
negroes  naked  to  the  waist,  wild,  energetic  figures  and 
countenances,  who  were  beating  drums  with  energetic 
animation.  These  drums  were  hollowed  tree-stems,  over 
the  openings  of  which  was  stretched  a  parchment  skin, 
on  which  the  negroes  drummed,  in  part  with  sticks  and 
in  part  with  their  hands,  with  their  thumbs,  with  their 
fists,  with  wonderful  agility  and  skill,  a  wild,  artistic  per- 
fection, or,  I  should  rather  say,  a  perfected  natural  art — 
they  drummed  as  bees  hum  and  beavers  build.  The 
time  and  measure,  which  sometimes  varied,  was  exqui- 
sitely true;  no  one  can  imagine  a  more  natural,  perfect, 
lively  precision  in  that  irregular  regular  time.  The  drum 
was  held  between  the  knees;  they  held  in  their  fists  a 
large  ball  filled  with  stones  or  some  other  noisy  things, 
and  ornamented  outside  with  a  tuft  of  cock's  feafhers. 
They  seem  to  me  to  create  as  much  noise  as  possible. 
Some  dancing  couples  assembled ;  ladies  of  various  shades 
of  color,  dressed  in  ragged  finery ;  men  (negroes)  without 
any  finery,  almost  without  any  attire  at  all  on  the  upper 
part  of  the  body.  A  man  took  a  woman  by  the  hand,  and 
then  began  to  dance,  she  turning  round  on  one  spot  with 
downcast  eyes,  he  surrounding  her  with  a  vast  many  gam- 
bols, among  which  are  most  astounding  summersets  and 
leaps,  remarkable  for  their  boldness  and  agility.  Other 
negroes,  in  the  mean  time,  set  up,  every  now  and  then, 
'wild  cries,  and  strike  with  sticks  upon  the  walls  and  doors. 
The  sweat  pours  from  the  drumming  negroes,  who  look 
desperately  in  earnest.  "When  the  hall  began  to  be  crowd- 
ed, I  would  not  any  longer  detain  my  friend  and  his  little 
daughter ;  but  I  shall  do  all  in  my  power  to  witness  again 
and  again  these  African  dances,  with  their  peculiar  wild 
life,  at  the  same  time  so  irregular  and  yet  so  rhythmical 


276  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

On  our  return  we  heard,  both  near  and  afar,  the  wild 
sound  of  the  drums.  It  is  only,  however,  the  free  ne- 
groes of  the  island  who  hold  their  dances  at  this  season. 
During  the  whole  time  of  la  Secca  the  grinding  of  the 
sugar-cane  is  going  forward  on  the  plantations,  and  the 
negro  slaves  can  not  then  dance,  scarcely  have  time  to 
sleep.  There  are,  however,  in  Cuba  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  free  negroes. 

As  we  entered  the  village,  we  met  two  young  men  who 
were  playing  a  lively  air  on  the  guitar,  and  who  were  ac- 
companied by  several  other  young  men.  They  were  cele- 
brating the  birth  or  name-day  of  some  of  their  friends — 
a  beautiful  poetical  custom ! 

I  have  rambled  about  a  good  deal  in  this  neighborhood, 
and  have  become  acquainted  with  some  of  the  beautiful 
trees  of  the  island.  Among  these  I  must  introduce  to  you 
the  ceiba-tree,  one  of  the  loftiest  and  most  lovely  trees  of 
Cuba.  It  shoots  aloft,  a  strong  and  softly  undulating 
stem,  to  a  height  exceeding  that  of  the  palm,  and  without 
any  branches,  until,  all  at  once,  it  spreads  out  in  a  hori- 
zontal direction  three  or  four  arms,  sinuous  like  those  of 
the  oak,  but  less  abrupt ;  these  subdivide  themselves  into 
lesser  branches,  and  bear  aloft  the  most  beautiful  crown 
of  palmated  rich  green  leaves.  It  is  one  of  the  most  love- 
ly trees  I  ever  saw,  and  I  know  nothing  to  which  I  can 
compare  it.  But  this  beautiful  tree  has  its  grudging  ene- 
my, and  upon  the  small,  thorn-like  excrescences  with 
which  its  stem  is  covered  a  parasite  is  apt  to  fix  itself, 
which  by  degrees  embraces,  and  finally  kills  the  tree.  I. 
observed  also  the  beautiful  dark  green  trees,  Mamay  Col- 
orado and  Mamay  Santa  Domingo,  now  covered  with 
fruit,  gray-brown  outside,  and  within  filled  with  a  reddish- 
yellow  flesh,  very  sweet,  but  to  my  taste  insipid ;  and 
the  sapota-tree,  also  with  dark  green  leaves  and  brown 
fruit,  about  the  size  of  small  oranges,  and,  like  these,  con- 
sisting  of  juicy  segments,  very  sweet,  and   extremely 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  277 

agreeable  to  my  taste.  The  mango-tree  has  a  thick,  leafy- 
head,  which  reminds  me,  both  in  form  and  compactness, 
of  our  chestnut- tree.  The  mango  fruit  is  yet  green,  and 
hangs  in  long  racemes,  several  upon  a  stalk,  like  colossal 
almonds  in  form.  They  are  said  to  be  of  a  beautiful  gold- 
en yellow  when  ripe  ;  they  are  called  the  apples  of  Cuba, 
and  are  much  liked  on  the  island.  The  mango-tree  af- 
fords a  thick,  impenetrable  shadow  ;  the  tamarind-tree, 
on  the  other  hand,  spreads  out  above  your  head  like  a 
fine,  transparent,  embroidered  green  veil,  through  which 
you  see  the  blue  sky.  It  bears  pods  with  small  beans  in 
them,  which  have  an  acid,  but  very  agreeable  and  fresh 
flavor. 

The  gourd,  or  calabash-tree — (N.B. — I  tell  you  the 
names  of  the  trees  as  I  hear  them  called  here,  for  I  have 
no  access  to  any  botanical  work) — resembles  an  apple- 
tree  in  its  growth,  has  its  branches  overgrown  with  thick- 
set leaves,  and  bears  fruit  round  as  a  ball,  without  any 
stem.  This  fruit,  which  will  grow  as  large  as  a  man's 
head,  and  which  has  a  very  hard  rind,  furnishes  the  poor- 
er people  with  their  most  useful  domestic  utensils,  and 
becomes,  when  cut  in  two,  their  bowl,  dish,  plate,  drink- 
ing vessel,  water  cask,  dipper,  ladle,  their  all  in  all.  The 
calabash,  or  gourd,  is  especially  the  negro's  house  furni- 
ture, and  it  is  the  calabash  also  which  adorns  his  fists, 
and  which  occasions  pleasure  and  noise  at  their  dances.  I 
might  mention  other  trees,  and  many  there  are,  of  which 
as  yet  I  do  not  know  the  names  ;  but  I  must  tell  you  how 
my  beloved  banana-tree  blossoms  and  sets  its  fruit ;  for  it 
is  a  peculiar  story,  which  for  a  long  time  has  puzzled  me 
when  I  saw  it  from  a  distance,  and  now  I  have  studied  it 


near. 


You  see  the  banana-tree — you  shall  see  it  in  my  album 
— a  tree  of  low  growth,  with  a  palm-like  crown  not  much 
above  your  head  in  height.  The  stem  shoots  up  straight, 
surrounded  by  leaves,  which  fall  off  as  the  stem  increases 


278  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

in  height,  and  which  leave  it  somewhat  rugged,  and  with 
rather  a  withered  appearance.  When  the  tree  has  attain- 
ed the  height  of  four  or  five  ells,  it  ceases  to  grow,  but 
unfolds  and  expands  a  crown  of  inroad  light  green  leaves, 
as  soft  as  velvet,  and  from  two  to  four  ells  long,  and  which 
bend  and  are  swayed  gracefully  by  the  wind.  The  wind, 
however,  is  not  quite  gracious  to  them,  but  slits  the  leaves 
on  each  side  of  the  strong  leaf-fibre  into  many  parts,  so 
that  it  often  looks  tattered,  but  still  preserves,  even  amid 
its  tatters,  its  soft  grace  and  its  beautiful  movement. 
From  amid  the  crown  of  leaves  shoots  forth  a  bud  upon  a 
stalk,  and  resembling  a  large  green  flower-bud.  This 
shoots  up  rapidly,  and  becomes  as  rapidly  too  heavy  for 
its  stalk,  which  bends  under  its  weight.  The  bud  now 
bends  down  to  the  stem,  and  grows  as  large  probably  as  a 
cocoa-nut,  its  form  being  like  that  of  a  Provence  rose-bud, 
and  of  a  dark  violet  color.  I  saw  upon  almost  all  banana- 
trees,  even  on  those  which  bore  rich  clusters  of  ripe  fruit, 
this  immense  violet-colored  bud  hanging,  and  was  not  a 
little  curious  to  know  all  about  it.  And  now  you  shall 
know  !  One  of  the  outer  leaves  or  envelopments  of  the 
bud  loosens  itself,  or  opens  itself  gently  at  the  top,  and 
you  now  perceive  that  its  innermost  side  glows  with  the 
most  splendid  vermilion  red ;  and  within  its  depth  you 
see  peeping  forth,  closely  laid  together  side  by  side,  six  or 
seven  little  light  yellow  figures,  not  unlike  little  chickens, 
and  very  like  the  woolly  seed-vessels  in  the  single  peony- 
flower.  The  leaf  encasements  open  more  and  more  to  the 
light  and  the  air,  and  those  little  light  yellow  fruit-chick- 
ens peep  forth  more  and  more.  By  degrees  the  leaf,  with 
its  little  family,  separates  itself  altogether  from  the  bud, 
and  a  length  of  bare  stem  grows  between  them.  The 
little  chickens  now  gape  with  pale  yellow  flower-beaks, 
and  put  out  their  tongues  (they  are  of  the  didynamia  or- 
der) to  drink  in  the  sun  and  the  air  ;  but  still  the  beauti- 
ful leaf  bends  itself  over  their  heads  like  a  screen,  like  a 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD  279 

protecting  wing,  like  a  shadowy  roof.  The  sun  would  as 
yet  be  too  hot  for  the  little  ones.  But  they  grow  more 
and  more.  They  begin  to  develop  themselves,  to  plump 
out  their  breasts,  and  to  raise  their  heads  more  and  more. 
They  will  become  independent ;  they  will  see  the  sun ; 
they  need  no  longer  the  old  leaf.  The  leaf  now  disengages 
itself — the  beautiful  maternal  leaf — and  falls  to  the  earth. 
I  have  frequently  seen  these  leaf-screens  lying  on  the 
ground  beneath  the  tree,  and  taken  them  up  and  contem- 
plated them  with  admiration,  not  only  for  the  part  they 
act,  but  for  the  rare  beauty  and  clearness  of  the  crimson 
color  on  their  inner  side  ;  one  might  say  that  a  warm  drop 
of  blood  from  a  young  mother's  heart  had  infused  itself 
there.  The  young  chickens,  which  are  cocks  and  hens  at 
the  same  time,  plume  themselves  now  proudly,  and  with 
projecting  breasts,  and  beautifully  curved  backs  and  heads, 
and  beaks  raised  aloft,  range  themselves  garland-like 
around  the  stem,  and  thus,  in  about  two  weeks'  time, 
they  ripen  into  delicious  bananas,  and  are  cut  off  in 
bunches. 

The  whole  of  that  dark,  purple-tinted  bud-head  is  a 
thick  cluster  of  such  leaf-envelopes,  each  inclosing  such 
an  offspring.  Thus  releases  itself  one  leaf  after  another, 
and  falls  off;  thus  grows  to  maturity  one  cluster  of  fruit 
after  another,  until  the  thick  stalk  is  as  full  as  it  can  hold 
of  their  garlands ;  but,  nevertheless,  there  always  remains 
a  good  deal  of  the  bud-head,  which  is  never  able  to  de- 
velop the  whole  of  its  internal  wealth  during  the  year  in 
which  the  banana-tree  lives ;  for  it  lives  and  bears  fruit 
only  one  year,  and  then  dies.  But,  before  that  happens, 
it  has  given  life  to  a  large  family  of  young  descendants, 
who  grow  up  at  its  feet,  and  the  eldest  of  which  are  ready 
to  blossom  and  bear  fruit  when  the  mother-tree  dies. 

Such  is  the  history  of  the  banana-tree,  Musa  paradi- 
siaca,  as  it  is  called  in  the  Tropical  Flora.  And  of  a  cer- 
tainty it  was  at  home  in  the  first  paradise,  where  all  was? 
good. 


280  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

One  can  scarcely  imagine  any  thing  prettier  or  more 
perfect  than  these  young  descendants,  the  banana  chil- 
dren ;  they  are  the  perfect  image  in  miniature  of  the 
mother-tree,  but  the  wind  has  no  power  upon  their  young 
leaves  :  they  stand  under  the  wing  of  the  mother-tree  in 
paradisiacal  peace  and  beauty. 

It  has  been  attempted  to  transplant  the  banana-tree 
into  the  southern  portion  of  North  America,  where  so 
many  trees  from  foreign  climates  flourish ;  but  the  bana- 
na-tree will  not  flourish  there  ;  its  fruit  will  not  ripen ;  it 
requires  a  more  equal,  more  delicious  warmth  ;  it  will  not 
grow  without  the  paradisiacal  life  of  the  tropics. 

Roasted  banana  is  as  common  a  dish  at  the  breakfasts 
of  the  Creoles  as  bread  and  coffee ;  but  I  like  it  only  in  its 
natural  state. 

The  ladies  in  this  country  have  very  light  house-keep- 
ing cares.  The  cook,  always  a  negro  woman,  and  if  a 
man-cook,  a  negro  also,  receives  a  certain  sum  of  money 
weekly  with  which  to  provide  the  family  dinners.  She 
goes  to  market  and  makes  purchases,  and  selects  that 
which  seems  best  to  her,  or  what  she  likes.  The  lady  of 
the  house  frequently  does  not  know  what  the  family  will 
have  for  dinner  until  it  is  on  the  table ;  and  I  can  only 
wonder  that  the  mistress  can,  with  such  perfect  security, 
leave  these  matters  to  her  cooks,  and  that  all  should  suc- 
ceed so  well ;  but  the  faculty  for,  and  the  pleasure  in  all 
that  concerns  serving  the  table,  is  said  to  be  universal 
among  the  negroes,  and  they  compromise  their  honor  if 
they  do  not  serve  up  a  good  dinner. 

Mrs.  S.  sits  during  the  morning  and  reads  with  her  two 
little  girls  in  a  hall,  the  doors  of  which  open  upon  the 
piazza,  and  thence  to  the  street  or  high  road,  and  as  the 
country  people  (Monteros,  as  they  are  here  called,  and 
who  are  always  men)  pass  with  their  little  horses  heavily 
laden  with  vegetables,  fruit,  or  poultry,  now  and  then 
one  of  them  will  stop  at  the  door  and  call  to  la  signora. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  281 

inquiring  whether  she  will  purchase  this  or  that,  and  she 
says  a  couple  of  words  in  reply  in  that  melodious  Spanish 
tongue,  and  the  whole  is  done  in  few  words,  without  her 
needing  to  rise  from  her  seat.  Life  might  be  very  easy 
here.  In  the  evening,  after  tea,  we  sit  in  rocking-chairs 
in  the  piazza,  dressed  as  lightly  as  propriety  will  allow, 
and  enjoy  the  air  and  the  dolce  far  niente.  All  is  then 
quiet  in  the  little  village ;  to  breathe  here  is  to  live  and 
enjoy ! 

My  kind  friends  have  taken  me  to  the  beautiful  gar- 
dens of  some  of  the  aristocracy  of  the  neighborhood — 
they  are  splendid,  but  formal.  Every  thing  is  set  in  rows 
along  the  graveled  walks ;  and  the  tropical  trees,  the 
forms  of  which  are  regular  by  nature,  add  to  the  formal- 
ity, when  they  are  not  grouped  with  some  artistic  and  po- 
etical feeling.  In  the  lovely  garden,  for  instance,  of  El 
Conti  Hernandinos,  it  was  this  feeling  which  led  to  the 
planting  of  a  circle  of  king-palms.  In  this  way  the  most 
beautiful  columned  rotunda  was  formed  which  can  be 
imagined ;  the  crowns  being  all  at  the  same  height,  lock- 
ed their  branches  into  each  other,  and  formed  a  gigantic 
verdant  garland,  which  waved  and  rustled  in  the  wind, 
while  the  blue  vault  of  heaven  shone  brightly  through  it. 

I  have  taken  a  walk  .every  morning  into  the  Bishop's 
garden ;  but  I  was  one  morning  persecuted  there  by  a 
couple  of  half-naked,  horrible-looking  negroes,  who  prob- 
ably said  witty  things  while  they  begged,  although  I  did 
not  understand  them,  and  they  disturbed  my  comfort. 
Another  morning  I  was  so  very  unwell  from  something 
which  I  had  taken,  though  I  knew  not  what,  that  the  joys 
of  Paradise  could  not  have  pleased  me  ;  a  third  morning 
I  was  free  and  at  peace,  and  again  enjoyed  life,  but  not  as 
I  did  on  the  first  morning.  But  neither  was  that  need- 
ful;  I  was  happy  and  thankful :  one  single  morning  such 
as  that  is  enough  for  an  immortal  memory. 

I  have  every  night  again  saluted  that  large,  magnifi- 


282  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

cent  constellation  above  the  palm-tree  mound,  and  have 
seen  the  quiet,  melancholy,  clear  glance  of  the  morning 
star  over  the  earth.  These  nights,  with  the  roar  of  the 
mountain  stream  and  the  rustling  of  the  banana-trees,  I 
shall  never  forget. 

This  morning  Mrs.  S.  and  myself  went  into  the  park.  I 
observed  some  verses  in  Spanish  inscribed  upon  a  bamboo- 
tree,  and  asked  her  to  read  them  to  me.  She  could  not 
do  it,  because  their  meaning  was  of  the  grossest  kind. 
Again  the  old  serpent ! 

One  sees  in  the  country  around  here  small  farms,  on 
all  of  which  are  houses  built  of  palm-trees,  and  thatched 
with  tawny  palm-leaves ;  the  roofs  are  all  pointed,  and 
frequently  taller  than  the  cottages  themselves.  But  all 
the  dwelling-houses  of  the  island  are  low,  on  account  of 
the  hurricanes,  which  otherwise  would  destroy  them. 
Many  small  cottages  are  built  of  bark  or  of  woven  brush- 
wood. The  palm-tree,  however,  is  the  principal  tree  of 
the  poor ;  it  supplies  them  with  material  for  their  houses, 
and  the  calabash  furnishes  them  with  household  wares. 
The  little  farms  have  a  peculiar,  although  not  ornament- 
al appearance ;  still,  they  adorn  the  landscape  with  their 
own  character. 

I  have  heard  a  good  deal  of  what  occurred  during  the 
last  hurricane.  One  spot  was  pointed  out  to  me,  near 
here,  where  stood  a  little  peasant  farm.  The  whole  fam- 
ily were  assembled  in  the  house,  twelve  in  number.  The 
tempest  shook  the  dwelling ;  the  father  admonished  them 
all  to  pray ;  they  threw  themselves  on  their  knees  around 
him ;  he  stood  upright  in  the  middle  of  the  room,  and 
prayed  in  the  name  of  all.  The  tempest  tore  open  a  hole 
in  the  roof,  and  in  the  same  moment  overturned  the  house, 
leaving  the  father  standing  upright,  but  burying  his  wife, 
his  children,  and  servants.  Not  a  single  one  escaped  ex- 
cepting himself ! 

I  shall,  in  the  morning,  return  to  Havana.     If  I  could 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  283 

but  some  time  give  pleasure  to  the  excellent,  kind  people 
who  have,  by  their  hospitality,  given  so  much  to  me !  I 
am  sorry  to  leave  them,  and,  in  particular,  the  youngest, 
most  charming  little  girl,  the  dark-eyed  little  Ellen ! 

Havana,  Feb.  15. 

Again  I  am  here  !  Heat  is  a  good  thing,  but  too  much 
is — too  much !  And  this  heat  is  too  stimulating  both  for 
soul  and  body.  It  may  be  possible  to  keep  in  health,  but 
to  keep  in  spirits  is  an  impossibility;  one  becomes  quite 
enervated.  A  fine  sand-dust  enters  through  the  jalousies 
from  the  streets,  and  fills  the  air  of  the  room,  and  covers 
every  thing.  Evening  is  the  only  time  of  the  day  in 
which  one  can  breathe  at  all  freely,  partly  in  the  open  air, 
partly  in  the  airy  galleries  within  the  house,  opening  into 
the  court. 

I  am  now  staying  with  the  F.  family  in  Calle  (street) 
de  Obra  Pia.  Good  Mrs.  F.  has  arranged  a  room  for  my 
accommodation,  and  seems  to  have  my  comfort  at  heart 
in  every  possible  way.  She  is  one  of  those  beautiful,  ma- 
ternal natures  who  make  life  so  rich,  and  all  in  the  house 
love  her.  I  should  love  her  if  it  were  for  no  other  reason 
than  because  she  likes  the  negroes ;  is  a  motherly  protect- 
or of  the  slaves ;  and  openly  takes  the  part  of  the  negro 
character  on  all  occasions,  and  can  relate  many  beautiful 
traits  of  their  nobility  of  mind,  their  faithfulness  and  good 
disposition.  She  spends  one  portion  of  the  forenoon  quite 
patriarchally  in  sitting  and  sewing  among  her  female  slaves, 
as  well  as  in  reading  to  the  younger  children  in  one  of  the 
long,  open  galleries,  where  she  also  receives  visits,  and 
gives  orders  for  the  business  of  the  kitchen  or  the  toilet. 
In  the  evening  the  large  family  party  and  their  circle  of 
friends  gather  around  her  in  the  galleries  or  the  drawing- 
room.  Then  come  the  two  young,  lovely  ladies,  her 
daughters,  with  their  husbands,  both  Germans,  and  one 
of  whom  is  very  musical ;  then  come  the  English  consul, 
Mr.  C,  with  his  lovely  young  wife,  a  daughter  also  of 


284  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Mrs.  F.,  though  by  a  former  marriage ;  and  there  are  the 
enamored  pair,  the  eldest  son  of  the  house,  and  his  bloom- 
ing wife ;  and  there  are  the  betrothed  couple,  Louisa  F., 
still  almost  a  child,  and  her  lover,  a  young  Scotch  gentle- 
man, who  is  desperately  in  love,  and  very  agreeable ;  there 
are  the  younger  sons  and  daughters  of  the  house,  the 
youngest  of  these  my  grave  little  Maestro  in  the  Spanish 
tongue,  the  thirteen-year-old  Grulio  and  Emily,  as  pretty 
and  graceful  as  one  imagines  a  good  fairy;  then  also 
come  other  friends  of  the  family,  and  there  is  music,  sing- 
ing, and  dancing;  but  the  enamored  bridegrooms,  mar- 
ried or  betrothed,  sit  beside  their  young  brides:  and  gaze 
at  them,  and  will  not  let  them  dance  or  leave  their  sides. 
The  construction  of  houses  in  Havana  is  very  peculiar, 
and  one  must  get  accustomed  to  them  to  like  it.  Every 
thing  is  arranged  so  as  to  .produce  as  much  air  and  as 
much  circulation  as  possible.  Long  galleries,  with  wide 
semicircular  arcades,  open  into  the  court  (this  house  has 
them  on  four  sides);  in  these  galleries  the  whole  house- 
hold may  be  found,  all  busy,  and  leading  a  sort  of  public 
life;  dinner  is  eaten,  visits  are  received,  the  lady  of  the 
house  sews  surrounded  by  her  female  slaves,  or  instructs 
her  children;  her  domestics  wash,  or  perform  their  other 
respective  household  duties;  every  thing  is  done  all  in 
these  open  galleries,  in  which  people  and  air  circulate 
alike  unimpeded.  Within  these  galleries,  which  gener- 
ally have  marble  floors,  lie  the  sleeping  rooms,  separated 
from  the  gallery  by  Yenetian  shutters,  the  windows  open- 
ing to  the  street,  and  which,  in  the  upper  story  of  the 
house,  are  inclosed  in  the  same  manner.  On  the  ground 
floor,  however,  the  windows  have  iron  bars  or  gratings, 
and  behind  this  grating  a  curtain  which  is  drawn  at  night. 
During  the  day  no  curtain  is  seen,  and  these  grated  win- 
dows, with  their  upright  iron  bars,  give  a  dismal,  prison- 
like appearance  to  the  story  nearest  to  the  street.  In  the 
more  elegant  houses,  however,  this  window-grating  is  much 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  285 

ornamented,  and  frequently  handsome  ladies,  rocking  them- 
selves in  rocking-chairs,  and  fanning  themselves  with  splen- 
did fans,  may  be  seen  sitting  behind  the  grating.  Glass 
is  never  used.  This  construction  of  houses  and  arrange- 
ment of  rooms  gives  free  and  general  circulation  to  the 
air,  and  the  air  of  Cuba  can  not  be  other  than  welcome, 
but  with  it  comes,  here  in  Havana,  a  vast  deal  of  dust, 
which  is  detrimental  both  to  neatness  and  comfort. 

If  one  goes  into  the  city — and  I  have  rambled  about  a 
great  deal  by  myself  in  the  evening — one  gets  glimpses 
on  all  hands,  through  arcades  and  half-dusky  passages, 
into  homes  and  amid  households,  the  figures  of  which  are 
seen  in  a  charming  clair-obscur.  They  pass  by  and  van- 
ish into  shade.  On  all  sides  you  see  new  vistas  open, 
new  pictures  in  dusky  arcades  and  beneath  porticoes,  or- 
namented with  fresco-painting  of  fruits  and  flowers ;  but 
all  is  seen  in  a  half  light.  Publicity  has  here  a  mystery, 
a  shadowy  depth;  and  in  front  of  the  open  windows  of 
the  houses  is  iron  grating.  There  is  in  the  building  of 
the  city  a  great  mixture  of  regularity  and  irregularity,  of 
old  and  new,  of  the  splendid  and  the  dilapidated.  Close 
beside  the  elegant  arched  arcade,  with  its  gayly  painted 
walls,  stands  a  half-ruinous  wall,  the  fresco-paintings  of 
which  are  half  obliterated  or  have  pealed  off  with  the 
mortar.  And  this  old  wall  is  not  repaired,  nor  the  old 
painting  restored.  All  this — the  countenances  and  life 
of  the  colored  population;  the  silent,  wedge-like  way  in 
which  the  volantes  insinuate  themselves  between  the  rows 
of  houses,  give  to  Havana  a  peculiar  character,  and  a  ro- 
mantic life  which  is  unlike  that  of  any  other  city  which 
I  have  seen,  and  especially  unlike  those  of  England  and 
North  America. 

We  have  now  moonlight,  and  I  can  not  but  admire  its 
brightness  and  transparency.  Our  moonlight  in  Sweden 
is  tolerably  bright,  but  has  a  colder,  more  blue  tinge ; 
here  it  is  light  yellow,  and  seems  to  me  almost  rose-tint- 


286  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

ed.  Moonlight  here  is  considered  dangerous,  and  people 
do  not  venture  into  it  with  uncovered  heads. 

I  have  been  two  evenings  to  La  Plaza  des  Armas,  to 
hear  the  music,  with  my  good  friends  Mr.  and  Mrs.  F. 
Elegant  signoras  with  light  mantillas  over  their  heads, 
which  are  adorned  with  flowers,  walk  about  with  polite 
caballeros  under  the  magnificent  king -palms,  or  sit  on 
marble  benches  talking,  while  the  music  plays  Cuban 
dances  or  marches,  and  pieces  from  favorite  operas.  A 
more  beautiful  festal  hall  than  this  place,  with  its  palms 
and  palaces,  seen  beneath  the  moonlight,  and  the  beam- 
ing heaven  of  Cuba,  can  not  be  conceived.  I  have  also 
seen  here  lovely  poetical  forms,  and  poetically  lovely  cos- 
tumes. That  transparent  Spanish  veil  is  like  moonlight, 
a  talisman  which  conceals  deformity,  and  enhances  beau- 
ty by  its  mystic,  shadowy  half  light. 

My  amiable  entertainers  drove  me  one  day  to  a  village 
or  small  town,  called  G-uanabacoa,  which  is  said  to  be  the 
oldest  on  the  island,  and  which  still  preserves  some  mem- 
ories of  the  aborigines,  the  mild,  peaceful  Indians  who  in- 
habited Cuba  when  the  Spaniards  discovered  this  beauti- 
ful island.  And  it  is  one  of  the  peculiarities  of  Cuba  that 
its  aborigines  were  as  mild  as  its  climate,  which  even  to 
this  day  exercises  its  delicious  influence  upon  those  who 
are  born  in  the  island.  The  Creoles  are  mild  and  of  good 
disposition.  There  exist  on  the  island  neither  poisonous 
plants  nor  venomous  creatures.  The  native  bee  of  Cuba 
has  not  even  poison  in  its  sting.  The  barbarities  of  the 
Spaniards  in  the  island  have  not  been  able  to  poison  its 
natural  character;  the  blood  of  its  massacred,  inoffensive 
aborigines  cries  still  from  the  earth,  but  its  cry  is  a  beau- 
tiful melody ;  it  has  baptized  the  most  beautiful  valley  of 
Cuba  with  the  name  of  Yumori  ! 

Among  the  memories  which  the  Indians  have  left  in 
G-uanabacoa  is  a  kind  of  earthen  vessel  made  from  a  sort  of 
porous  clay,  peculiar  to  the  place,  and  which  is  still  made 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  287 

there.  These  earthen  vessels  are  universal  in  Cuba  for 
the  keeping  drinking-water  cool  in  the  house.  The  wa- 
ter evaporates  through  the  porous  vessel,  around  which  a 
cloth  is  bound,  which  is  thus  always  moist,  and  the  water 
which  is  drawn  off  is  fresh,  if  not  always  cool  enough  for 
my  taste.  The  want  of  good  drinking-water  is  a  great 
want  in  Cuba.  Ice  is  not  as  yet  used  there  for  the  cool- 
ing of  water,  except  in  the  large  hotels  of  Havana. 

The  day  was  beautiful  on  which  we  drove  to  Gruana- 
bacoa,  and  the  drive  was  beautiful  also;  but  I  was  not 
able  fully  to  enjoy  it.  I  was  worn  out,  from  the  want  of 
rest  for  two  nights,  owing  to  the  heat  and  the  musquitoes, 
and  I  saw  every  thing  in  a  half-slumbering  state.  The 
little  town  reminded  me  of  a  miniature  picture  of  Havana, 
the  houses  built  and  painted  in  the  same  style,  with  the 
same  flat  roofs,  and  even  ornamented  azoteons,  but  all  less 
and  lower.  The  country  exhibits  still  the  same  expanse 
of  billowy  plain  scattered  with  palms  and  small  farms,  and 
with  a  background  of  that  lofty  mountain  chain  which 
runs  from  east  to  west,  and  which  is  every  where  a  fine, 
prominent  feature  of  its  landscape.  The  highest  peaks  of 
these  mountains,  Patullo  and  Cobre,  are  said  to  be  upward 
of  3000  feet. 

The  natural  fortresses  and  strong-holds  of  the  island 
have  their  own  gloomy,  romantic  significance.  Fugitive 
slaves  live  in  these  mountains,  and  have  fortified  them- 
selves in  their  innumerable  grottoes  and  caves,  so  that  any 
pursuit  of  them  is  impossible.  They  have  there  built 
dwellings  for  themselves  and  obtained  fire-arms,  and  at  one 
time  amounted  to  so  large  a  number — it  is  said  many  thou- 
sands— that  the  government  of  Cuba  entertained  serious 
apprehensions  from  them.  The  difficulty,  however,  of  ob- 
taining food  for  themselves  in  these  remote  fastnesses  have 
caused  them  of  late  greatly  to  decrease  in  number.  Never- 
theless, they  prefer  to  live  free,  amid  those  free,  stern  mount- 
tains,  than  to  come  down  and  live  amid  still  sterner  men. 


288  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

The  palm  always  constitutes  an  important  feature  in 
the  landscape,  especially  when  it  stands  singly  or  scatter- 
ed in  small  groups.  It  strikes  me  as  being  the  noblest 
and  most  human-like  of  all  trees.  On  our  homeward  drive 
from  Gruanabacoa,  I  observed,  in  the  clear  moonlight,  two 
palm-trees  standing  solitary  in  a  large  field.  They  stood 
a  little  apart,  but  the  stems  had  more  and  more  inclined 
toward  each  other,  and  their  crowns  met.  Thus  they 
stood,  embracing  each  other  with  whispering  branches, 
beneath  that  beautiful  vault  of  heaven,  themselves  form- 
ing below  it  a  lofty  Gothic  'arch.  Thus  sometimes  will 
two  noble-minded  adversaries  approach  Bach  other  and 
grow  together  the  nearer  they  grow  toward  heaven. 

Our  road  through  the  whole  drive  lay  between  quick 
hedges,  consisting,  for  the  most  part,  of  immense  aloes, 
the  pointed,  thorny  leaves  of  which  forbade  any  approach. 
I  saw  in  the  middle  of  these  plants  tall  white  and  pink 
spikes  of  flowers  not  yet  fully  blown,  and  Mr.  F.  had  the 
kindness  to  gather  two  of  them  for  me.  They  resembled 
at  a  distance  an  immense  hyacinth  stem ;  they  were  the 
beautiful  spikes  of  the  aloe  flower,  and  which  afterward 
produce  a  pleasant  juicy  fruit,  with  a  pine-apple  flavor. 
Here  and  there  an  orange-tree  shot  up  in  the  hedge,  as 
well  as  that  strange  candelabra-like  plant  or  tree  which  I 
had  already  observed  on  the  heights  around  Havana  har- 
bor, but  have  not  learned  either  its  name  or  genus.  Very 
unlike  were  these  quick  hedges  to  those  of  our  country 
fields  ;  they  are,  however,  more-  odd-looking  than  really 
beautiful.  We  drove  home  in  that  clear,  gold,  and  rose- 
tinted  moonlight.  I  understand  that  there  are  many  beau- 
tiful flowers  which  bloom  only  in  this  light,  among  which 
is  the  night-blowing  cereus. 

Among  the  miracles  which  the  sun  performs  here,  that 
which  it  performs  in  the  depth  of  the  sea  is  perhaps  the 
most  remarkable.  The  sun  casts  his  prismatic  bow  into 
the  deep,  and  colors  the  fish  therewith.     I  yesterday  paid 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  289 

a  visit  to  the  fish-market  of  Havana,  and  no  stranger  in 
Havana  should  fail  of  seeing  this  remarkable  sight. 

The  fish  glow  with  all  the  colors  of  the  rainbow,  with 
the  most  splendid  clearness  and  distinctness ;  they  are 
blue,  yellow,  red;  they  are  edged  with  gold  and  violet, 
gold-tinted,  and  so  on — it  is  the  most  magnificent  fish- 
splendor  that  any  one  can  imagine.  The  most  beautiful 
algae  and  corals  are  gathered  from  the  sea  around  Cuba. 

Grood  Mrs.  F.  has  frequently  invited  me  to  accompany 
her  to  the  opera,  but  I  am  so  covetous  of  the  air  and  the 
moonlight  here,  that  I  prefer  spending  my  evenings  on 
La  Plaza  des  Armas.  Nature  here  is  to  me  No.  1 ;  people 
and  their  fine  shows,  No.  2 ;  I  shall,  however,  go  to-mor- 
row to  a  large  soiree  at  the  house  of  the  English  consul, 
and  see  there  the  Spanish  beauties.  And  then  farewell 
to  Havana  for  a  time. 

I  have  received  two  invitations  which  have  greatly 
pleased  me :  the  one  to  Matanzas,  to  the  house  of  an 
American  merchant  there ;  the  other  to  a  plantation  at  a 
few  miles'  distance,  from  a  Mrs.  De  C,  whose  friendly  let- 
ter was  a  real  refreshment  to  me  ;  for  there  I  shall  be  able 
to  get  out  into  the  country,  and  to  become  acquainted 
with  palms,  and  coffee-shrubs,  and  sugar-cane,  and  other 
tropical  growths.  I  am  greatly  delighted.  I  wished  to 
leave  Havana,  where  the  oppressive  heat  and  the  unusual 
mode  of  living  have  caused  me  to  suffer  from  an  intoler- 
able headache,  which  I  have  now  had  for  three  days,  and 
which  I  can  not  get  rid  of,  although  I  am  as  much  in  the 
air  as  possible.  To-morrow  I  shall  go  by  rail- way  to  Ma- 
tanzas, which  is  not  quite  a  day's  journey. 

Before  I  close  my  letter,  I  must  tell  you  the  arrange- 
ment which  the  Swedish  consul  here,  Mr.  N.,  and  Mr.  S., 
wish  to  make  for  me.  Mr.  N.  has  a  small  country-house 
which  he  does  not  occupy,  in  the  beautiful  garden  region 
close  by  the  S.'s.  This  he  wishes  to  furnish  for  me,  and 
there  I  am  to  live  in  rural  peace  and  freedom,  attended  by 

Vol.  II.— N 


290  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

a  respectable  duenna,  and  to  take  my  meals  with  the  S.'s, 
who  also  invite  me  to  take  up  my  quarters  with  them  as 
soon  as  their  guest-chamber,  which  is  now  occupied,  shall 
be  at  liberty.  Is  not  this  charming?  I  shall  not  prob- 
ably avail  myself  of  this  proffered  kindness,  but  I  am 
grateful  with  all  my  heart  for  such  hospitality.  The  good 
F.'s  are,  however,  at  the  bottom  of  it  all.  God  bless  them ! 
You  have  now  frost  and  snow,  and  cold,  cold  air,  cold 
all  around  you !  and  here  it  is  too  hot  for  me ;  and  heat 
is  not  much  better  than  cold,  particularly  when  one  has  a 
headache.  But  heart  and  soul  are  sound,  and  with  them 
I  embrace  you  in  all  love ! 


LETTER    XXXIV. 

Matanzas,  Feb.  23d. 

How  beautiful  it  is  here,  my  little  heart ;  how  good  it 
is  to  be  here !  In  this  glorious  air,  fanned  by  balmy 
zephyrs,  in  this  light,  excellent,  and,  in  every  respect, 
comfortable  home-— the  house  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  B. — where 
I  am  now  staying,  I  feel  myself,  as  it  were,  -living  anew. 
I  have  now  been  here  for  a  whole  week,  which  has  passed 
like  one  bright,  beautiful  day. 

It  seemed  to  me  pleasant  to  leave  that  hot,  dusty  Ha- 
vana early  on  the  morning  of  Monday  the  16th,  and  there 
also  I  left  my  headache.  I  parted  with  it  the  night  be- 
fore, when  I  went  to  bed,  and  had  a  sound  sleep.  That 
kind,  cordially  good  Mrs.  F.  was  up  with  me  at  five  o'clock 
the  next  morning,  and  had  coffee  brought  for  me  and  her- 
self from  a  Restaurateur's,  because  she  would  not  disturb 
her  slaves  so  early;  and  after  having  taken  a  heartfelt 
leave  of  her  and  her  husband,  I  seated  myself  in  their 
vol  ante,  accompanied  by  one  of  the  youngest  sons  of  the 
house,  and  my  favorite  Frank.  The  calashero  cracked 
his  whip  in  the  air,  and  we  rapidly  swung  away  to  the 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  29 X 

rail-way  station.  I  was  glad  when  I,  with  the  help  of 
my  young  conductor,  had  got  safely  through  all  the  diffi- 
culties and  impediments  of  the  rail-way,  and  was  seated 
quietly  in  a  spacious  carriage.  The  carriages  are  built 
in  the  American  fashion,  because  Americans  constructed 
the  rail-way  and  built  the  carriages  at  Cuba.  All  the 
windows  were  down,  to  allow  the  glorious  morning  air 
free  ingress;  and  although  all  the  gentlemen  who  were 
in  the  carriage — from  forty  to  fifty  in  number — smoked 
cigars  or  cigaritos,  there  was  no  smell  of  smoke,  and 
scarcely  any  to  be  perceived.  The  air  of  Cuba  seems  to 
have  the  power  of  annihilating  smoke.  I  was  the  only 
lady  in  the  carriage,  and  sat  solitarily  on  my  sofa,  and 
nearly  solitarily  in  my  portion  of  the  carriage ;  but  all  the 
more  uninterruptedly  could  I  see  around  me,  and — ah ! 
that  morning,  when  I  flew  over  the  new  earth,  beautiful 
as  a  paradise,  through  a  paradisiacal  atmosphere,  and  saw 
around  me  new  and  enchanting  scenes  and  objects — it 
was  only  by  inward  and  deep  thanksgiving  that  so  much 
enjoyment  could  be  sanctified. 

There  had  been  rain  in  the  night,  and  splendid  clouds 
piled  themselves  in  masses  along  the  horizon,  and  grouped 
themselves  in  fantastic  shapes  above  the  blue  mountains. 
Now  they  lifted  themselves  in  heavy  draperies  above  them, 
to  flee  from  the  ascending  sun;  then  formed  a  magnifi- 
cent portal,  with  a  frame  of  gold ;  and  beyond  it  shone  a 
sea  of  soft,  rose-colored  light;  it  lightened  above  the  tops 
of  the  mountains,  and — the  sun  rose.  The  fantastic  little 
blue  and  yellow  villas,  with  their  splendid  gardens  full  of 
splendid  flowers  and  strange  plants ;  the  palm-thatched 
cottages  in  the  fields,  the  lofty,  green  palm-trees  above 
their  yellow-gray  roofs;  groves  of  mango,  plantain,  orange, 
and  cocoa-trees,  the  verdant  hedges  and  fields,  all  shone 
fresh  and  beautiful  amid  the  gushing  sunshine  in  the 
moist,  mild  morning. 

Along  the  whole  course  of  the  way  new  and  lovely  ob- 


292  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

jects  met  my  eye;  flowers,  plants,  gardens,  dwellings, 
all  bade  me  good-morning  as  we  sped  past  them.  But  a 
potato-field  and  a  large  cabbage-ground  greeted  me  as 
fellow-countrymen  and  old  friends.  The  whole  country 
looked  like  an  immense  garden ;  beautiful  palms  presented 
themselves  at  all  distances,  waving  their  crowns  in  the 
morning  wind,  and  along  the  edge  of  the  horizon  before 
me  arose  a  chain  of  dark  blue  mountains,  the  heights  of 
Camerioca. 

I  was  quite  well ;  no  human  being  could  be  better ;  both 
body  and  soul  had  wings,  and  I  flew  over  the  beautiful, 
brilliant  earth. 

The  villas  disappeared  by  degrees,  and  plantations  of 
sugar-cane,  and  other  vegetable  growths  which  were  un- 
known to  me,  took  their  places.  We  traveled  through 
whole  forests  of  planted  banana -trees.  After  that  the 
landscape  became  wilder,  and  parasite  plants  showed 
themselves  on  tree  and  meadow.  Presently  those  got  the 
upper  hand,  and  seemed  to  choke  vegetation.  The  crowns 
of  many  trees  bore  whole  gardens  of  orchids  and  aloes  on 
their  branches.  The  appearance  was  queer  rather  than 
beautiful,  although  various  of  these  parasitic  plants  had 
very  lovely  flowers,  but  the  whole  looked  heavy  and  un- 
natural. In  one  field  not  far  from  the  road  I  noticed 
a  lofty,  half-dead  ceiba-tree,  around  the  gigantic  stem  of 
which  the  parasite  Yaguay  embra,  a  female  fig-tree,  had 
flung  its  hundred-fold  arms  in  an  immense  embrace,  en- 
twining the  tree  from  root  to  head,  until  it  had  nearly  de- 
stroyed its  life.  This  death-struggle  between  the  ceiba- 
tree  and  the  female  parasite,  which  grows  and  nourishes 
itself  wTith  its  life,  and  finally  destroys  it,  is  a  frequent 
sight  in  Cuba,  and  it  is  a  very  remarkable  and  really  un- 
pleasant spectacle.  There  is  a  complete  tragedy  in  the 
picture,  which  reminds  one  of  Hercules  and  Dejanira,  of 
King  Agne  and  Aslbg. 

The  first  part  of  the  day  and  the  journey  were  full  of 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  293 

pleasures,  among  which  I  must  reckon  some  excellent 
sandwiches  and  bananas  which  good  Mrs.  F.  provided  me 
with,  and  as  I  ate  them  I  thought  of  her,  so  motherly,  so 
kind,  so  thoughtful  for  me  and  for  all  who  belong  to  her. 
Gratitude  and  joy  in  human  beings  is  the  best  food  of  the 
soul.  In  a  while  the  day  became  too  warm,  and  the  whole 
of  nature  too  much  overrun  with  parasitic  growths.  It 
oppressed  me,  and  made  me  drowsy. 

Some  ladies  with  Spanish  physiognomies  entered  the 
carriage  at  one  of  the  rail- way  stations.  They  seemed  to 
be  country  people,  but  were  well  dressed,  and  wore  no 
covering  on  the  head.  Two  of  them  were  very  handsome, 
were  stout,  and  bore  themselves  proudly  and  with  great 
hauteur  and  'ungraciousness  to  a  couple  of  gentlemen, 
evidently  their  admirers,  who  attended  them,  and  who,  at 
the  last  moment,  presented  bouquets  with  an  air  which 
did  not  look  despairing,  but  rather  full  of  roguishness,  as 
they  withdrew,  without  obtaining  a  glance  from  the  proud 
beauties.  This  woke  me  up  a  little.  And  I  was  wide 
awake  when  we,  in  the  afternoon,  left  behind  us  that  re- 
gion of  ensnarement,  and  the  landscape  suddenly  expand- 
ing itself,  the  city  of  Matanzas  was  before  us,  its  glorious 
bay  now  blue — clearly,  brightly  blue — and  in  the  back- 
ground the  lofty  mountain  ridge,  Pan  de  Matanzas,  so 
called  from  its  form,  and.  the  opening  to  Yumori  Valley. 
The  freshest,  the  most  delicious  breezes  met  us  here ;  and 
at  the  rail- way  station  I  was  met  by  two  gentlemen,  with 
mild,  agreeable  countenances,  who  bade  me  welcome.  It 
was  my  countryman,  Mr.  F.,  from  Gbtheberg,  now  resi- 
dent at  Matanzas,  and  Mr.  J.  B.,  who  conveyed  me  in  his 
volante  to  his  handsome  house.  Here  I  was  received  most 
kindly  by  his  handsome  young  wife,  a  Creole,  but  with 
such  a  fair,  fresh  Northern  appearance,  that  she  needed 
merely  a  helmet  on  her  brow  to  have  served  as  a  model 
for  a  Valkyria. 

With  this  agreeable  young  couple  I  am  spending  my 


294  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

time  quietly  and  pleasantly,  and  invigorating  myself,  both 
soul  and  body,  partly  in  their  fresh  pleasant  home — (my 
young  hostess  is  the  daughter  of  an  Anglo-American,  and 
every  thing  in  the  house  bears  the  impress  of  that  clean- 
liness, order,  and  excellent  management  which  distin- 
guish the  housewives  of  that  race) — and  partly  by  my 
solitary  rambles  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  city,  although 
it  is  so  unusual  for  a  lady  out  of  doors — especially  with 
a  bonnet  on  her  head — to  make  use  of  her  own  means  of 
promenade,  instead  of  those  of  the  horse  or  volante,  that 
little  negro  boys  and  girls  run  after  me  shouting  and 
laughing,  and  grown-up  people  stand  and  stare,  and  horses 
and  oxen  are  sometimes  frightened.  People  are,  however, 
beginning  now  to  be  used  to  me,  and  to  seeing  me  go  out ; 
and  I  will  not,  without  very  good  reasons,  give  up  my  sol- 
itary rambles  of  discovery. 

Will  you  accompany  me  on  one  of  them,  the  first,  the 
most  charming  which  I  have  yet  made,  and  when  I,  early 
in  the  morning,  visited  alone  the  valley  of  Yumori?  As 
a  matter  of  course,  you  must  understand  that  the  morning 
was  beautiful ;  but  how  beautiful  nobody  can  understand 
who  has  not  experienced  the  early  morning  hour,  and  the 
caresses  of  the  spirit  of  the  sea  from  Matanzas  Bay.  The 
valley  of  Yumori  lies  about  two  hundred  paces  from  Ma- 
tanzas. You  see  a  gorge  between  two  lofty  crags,  and 
through  the  gorge  a  bright  little  river,  which  flows  be- 
tween verdant  banks  to  unite  itself  to  the  sea— I  do  not 
say  throw  itself  into  it,  because  it  is  too  tranquil  for  that. 
It  is  clear  and  calm  as  a  mirror.  Let  us  follow  the  little 
stream  through  the  rocky  portals,  outside  of  which  is  open 
meadow,  and  the  broad  blue  Bay  of  Matanzas,  with  ships 
from  all  the  nations  of  the  world  sailing  in,  or  lying  at 
anchor  far,  far  into  the  distance. 

"We  walk  along  the  banks  of  the  Yumori  River,  and 
pass  the  mountain  portals;  and  within,  a  wonderfully 
beautiful  valley  expands,  the  green-sward  overgrown  with 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  295 

palms  and  verdurous  shrubs,  and  inclosed  on  each  side  by 
lofty  mountain  ridges.  The  shadows  of  the  hills  lie  cool 
and  dusk  upon  that  portion  of  the  valley  along  which  our 
path  runs.  How  beautiful  it  is  here  in  the  cool  shadow ! 
On  our  left  is  the  mirror-like  river,  which  begins  to  with- 
draw, under  our  gaze,  into  a  wood  of  mangrove — a  spe- 
cies of  shrub  which  grows  in  the  water,  and  increases  by 
throwing  its  twigs  down  to  the  bottom,  where  they  take 
root  and  spring  up  afresh  into  green  shrubs.  On  the 
opposite  side  of  the  river  rises  abruptly,  but  with  a  soft, 
waving  outline,  Pan  de  Matanzas,  and  on  our  side  run 
sloping  upward  the  heights  of  Combre.  The  rock  shoots 
out  on  the  hillsides  in  bold  basaltic  colonnades,  scoops 
itself  into  grottoes,  mysterious  porticoes,  and  arches  which 
are  alone  visited  by  the  birds  of  heaven.  The  bold  heights 
are  here  and  there  crested  with  palms,  and  heavy  trails 
of  creeping  plants  hang  around  them.  Lower  down,  and 
at  their  feet,  the  vegetation  becomes  still  more  luxuriant ; 
it  is  one  rich  mass  of  beautiful  trees,  shrubs,  and  flowers, 
among  which  I  lost  myself  in  delight  and  ignorance.  I 
know  the  popular  names,  however,  of  some  of  the  flowers. 
There  glows  the  fever -flower,  in  gold  and  flame,  inde- 
scribably brilliant;  there  is  the  wild  heliotrope,  luxuriant 
in  growth,  but  as  modest  in  color  and  form  as  our  north- 
ern hot-house  heliotrope ;  there  is  the  beautiful  white  blos- 
som of  the  mangrove,  with  a  chalice  half  of  the  convol- 
vulus and  half  of  the  lily  form,  and  diffusing  a  delicious 
fragrance ;  and  there,  along  our  path,  at  our  very  feet,  see 
that  little  shrub,  full  of  small,  splendidly  crimson  flowers, 
with  hundreds  of  little  mouths  or  bills  gaping  on  its  stalk, 
upward  when  they  are  young,  and  downward  toward  the 
earth,  upon  which  they  fall,  still  quite  crimson  and  fresh, 
as  they  become  older;  and  see  how  little  velvet  green 
humming-birds  flutter  around  them — how  enamored  they 
are  of  them,  how  little  afraid  of  us ;  how  they  dip,  hover- 
ing on  the  wing,  their  long  bills  into  the  open  bills  of  the 


296  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

flowers — animal  life  and  vegetable  life  here  meet  and  kiss 
— it  is  most  beautiful !  This  plant,  with  its  crimson,  fall- 
ing flowers,  is  Cupid's  tears,  Lacrymos  cupido.  But  Lac- 
rymos  cupido  are  not  the  pale  tears  of  sorrow.  They  are 
the  glowing  tears  of  an  overflowing,  blissful  heart.  They 
are  wept  by  the  heart  of  Nature,  and  winged  lovers  sip 
their  sweetness. 

The  valley  still  lies  before  us,  but  its  extent  is  hidden. 
The  bend  of  the  hills  closes  the  view.  Now,  however,  our 
path  suddenly  turns  to  the  right,  and  the  valley  reveals 
itself.  Before  us  on  the  right  lies,  in  the  bosom  of  the 
hills,  and  amid  the  most  beautiful  grove  of  palms,  a  little 
farm,  a  Cuban  farm,  with  palm-leaf-thatched  roof,  and 
our  path  leads  through  groups  of  cocoa-palms,  laden  with 
fruit.  Now  we  descend  a  little  hill,  and  now  on  the  right 
of  the  descent,  at  a  short  distance  from  the  path,  we  find 
the  ruins  of  a  stone  wall  and  a  well.  All  around  grow, 
in  picturesque  confusion,  cocoa-palms,  mamay,  and  man- 
go-trees, cypresses,  ceibas,  and  many  other  species  of  trees. 
We  advance  down  the  little  hill,  and  toward  the  farm ; 
but  just  below  it  the  path  winds  round  to  the  left,  and 
now  proceeds  more  straightforward  up  the  valley.  The 
valley  opens  to  us  like  a  vast  and  beautiful  palm-grove, 
inclosed  by  an  elliptical  frame  of  hilltops.  We  still  ad- 
vance for  a  little  distance;  the  valley  becomes  broader, 
with  softly  undulating  ground;  and,  whichever  way  we 
turn,  we  see  only  palms — palms.  Beneath  such  trees, 
such  groves,  beautiful,  immortal  beings  might  wander ! 

Here  again  lies  a  little  farm  not  far  from  the  path,  with 
its  straw-thatched  house  and  brushwood  cottage,  between 
which  shines  out  a  large  blossoming  oleander.  We  enter 
to  look  around ;  we  must  beg  a  draught  of  water.  La 
fermiere,  a  thin,  shriveled,  brown-eyed  woman,  looks  as 
if  she  would  give  us  every  thing  which  she  possesses ;  but 
she  does  not  understand  us,  and  we  do  not  understand  her. 
But  we  obtain  water  for  all  that,  and  a  great  bunch  of 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  297 

blossoming  oleander,  which  she  breaks  off  for  us  with  a 
hearty  good-will.  The  sun  is  now  beginning  to  be  hot, 
let  us  therefore  return;  we  will  come  hither  again,  for 
we  must  become  still  better  acquainted  with  the  valley  of 
Yumori. 

And  see,  here  come  Monteros,  with  their  heavily-laden 
horses,  the  packages  being  laid  straight  across  their  backs. 
They  salute  us  kindly  with  melodious  voices,  halt,  and 
inquire  good-humored ly  where  goes  la  signora,  and  what 
she  wants.  La  signora  says  that  she  comes  from  Svecia. 
The  Monteros  look  at  her  perplexed,  and  then  at  one  an- 
other. They  do  not  know  such  a  place  as  Svecia,  and  can 
not  understand  the  wanderer.  She  tells  them  that  she  is 
from  un  paeso  sotto  la  estreja  del  Norte  !  And  now  they 
believe  she  says  that  she  comes  from  the  north  star,  and 
they  say,  "Oh!"  and  look  at  one  another,  and  smile  sig- 
nificantly, and  wrinkle  their  brows ;  they  now  comprehend 
that  la  signora  is  somewhat  wrong  in  the  head,  and,  com- 
passionately shaking  their  heads,  they  drive  on  their  horses. 
I  can  not  tell  you  how  gentle  and  good-hearted  they  seem ; 
and,  slowly  following  them,  we  pursue  the  road  back  to 
Matanzas.  Still  the  lofty  mountain  wall  casts  its  shadow 
over  the  cocoa  palm  grove  by  the  well.  We  seat  ourselves 
on  the  broken  stone  wall,  and  breakfast  on  bananas,  which 
we  have  taken  with  us ;  an  incomparable  breakfast,  in  that 
delicious  morning  air,  in  that  wonderfully  beautiful  val- 
ley !  Gentle  and  happy  people  ought  to  live  at  the  farm 
among  the  palm-trees,  up  among  the  hills.  Amid  such 
beautiful,  joy-giving  objects  in  that  delicious  air,  human 
beings  should  become  gentle  and  good. 

The  sun  climbs  over  the  hills,  and  it  is  quite  hot  before 
we  reach  Matanzas ;  but  we  have  thus  spent  a  beautiful 
morning  in  the  valley  of  Yumori. 

I  have  made  some  acquaintance  in  the  city  of  Matanzas, 
and,  through  one  of  these,  have  been  able  to  visit  a  large 
coffee  and  sugar  plantation  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  city 

N2 


298  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

There  I  saw  avenues  of  many  rare  tropical  trees  and 
plants ;  a  kind  of  palm-tree,  which  twists  its  gigantically- 
strong  branches  like  cork-screws,  and  bears  gigantic  fruit ; 
a  kind  of  citron-tree,  which  bears  immense  citron-like  fruit, 
but  which  are  not  valued  as  such.  I  was  most  interested 
by  making  acquaintance  with  the  sago  and  date  palms, 
with  arrow-root,  with  the  guava-tree  and  its  pleasant  fruit, 
as  well  as  with  the  wonderfully  beautiful  hibiscus  flow- 
ers :  and  nothing  delighted  me  more  than  to  be  surrounded 
with  little  fluttering  humming-birds,  which  are,  on  the 
island,  so  remarkably  fearless  of  man,  and  continually 
hover  around  the  splendid  red  flowers  with  which  Cuba 
seems  to  adorn  herself  rather  than  with  flowers  of  any 
other  color.  Their  rapid,  arrow-like  flight  hither  and 
thither,  the  fluttering  movement  of  their  wings  while  they 
are  sipping  from  the  flowers,  are  a  perpetual  astonishment 
and  delight  to  me.  They  correspond  with  nothing  which 
I  have  seen  of  animal  or  human  life,  and  they  seem  to  me 
not  to  be  made  of  this  earth's  dust.  A  favorite  place  of 
resort  for  their  building  seems  to  be  on  the  banks  of  lovely 
little  purling  brooks,  shaded  by  thick  masses  of  foliage, 
where  the  nests  are  concealed  among  the  trees.  Among 
the  curiosities  of  the  place,  I  observed  many  orchideous 
parasites  hanging  from  the  trees,  as  well  as  a  large  ceiba- 
tree,  encircled  by  its  hostile  mistress,  Yaguay  embra,  and 
killed  by  its  dangerous  embrace. 

The  plantation,  for  the  rest,  had  a  very  forlorn  appear- 
ance, in  consequence  of  the  two  last  tornadoes,  which 
came  in  rapid  succession,  and  left  it  in  perfect  desolation ; 
besides  which  the  cholera  had  carried  off  a  great  portion 
of  the  negro  slaves. 

"  The  Lord  punishes  our  sins,  punishes  our  sins !"  said 
the  owner  of  the_  plantation,  with  an  expression  half  of 
levity,  half  of  repentance  and  acknowledgment  of  the 
justice  of  the  punishment.  He  was  an  elderly  man,  with 
French  manners  and  nervous  excitability,  but  a  very  po- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  299 

lite  host.  I  would  very  willingly  be  his  guest,  but  not 
his  slave.  The  slave-rooms,  in  a  low  wall  or  building, 
were  no  better  than  dark  pig-styes  with  us.  There  was 
also  a  hospital.  It  was  a  large,  dark  room,  in  which 
stood  some  wooden  bedsteads,  but  without  coverlets  or 
pillows,  nor  was  there  a  ray  of  light  in  the  room.  He 
was  himself,  he  said,  the  only  physician  of  the  sick  :  he 
could  himself  let  blood,  &c.  I  could  not  help  shuddering. 
The  plantation  seemed  almost  a  desert.  I  saw  a  shrivel- 
ed old  negro  cripple  steal  past  us,  with  a  shy,  submissive 
look.  A  little  sharp  lad  waited  at  table  with  an  uncon- 
cerned air,  and  who  seemed  not  to  trouble  himself  in  the 
least  about  his  master's  violent  exclamations  and  move- 
ments. 

This  gentleman  was  at  one  time  very  wealthy,  but  he 
has  during  the  last  few  years  suffered  great  losses,  which 
he  is  said  to  bear  with  great  equanimity. 

Matanzas  is  built  in  the  same  style  as  Havana,  but  has 
a  more  open  and  cheerful  appearance ;  the  streets  are 
considerably  wider,  although  not  paved.  The  house  of 
my  friends  here  is  two  stories  high ;  a  piazza  runs  round 
the  upper  story  opening  into  the  street,  and  here  I  walk 
in  the  evenings  inhaling  the  air,  while  my  hostess  in  the 
drawing-room  plays  Cuban  contra- dances  in  exquisite 
time,  and  full  of  abounding  life.  One  hears  these  dances 
ounding  at  all  distances  from  the  houses  of  the  city. 
"Wherever  one  may  be,  or  wherever  one  goes  in  Matanzas, 
this  dance-music  may  be  heard.  The  time  and  measure 
are  derived  from  the  children  of  Africa,  the  peculiar  music 
from  the  Spanish  Creoles  of  Cuba,  and  one  hears  in  it 
Spanish  seguidillas,  national  songs,  and  marches.  Both 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  B.  are  musical,  and  it  is  a  pleasure  to  me  to 
hear  him  play,  on  the  organ  notes  of  the  piano,  the  Catho- 
lic anthem,  Adeste  Fideles,  and  to  hear  him  play  the  Span- 
ish dances,  Hauta  Arragonesa,  El  Sabbatheo,  &c.  The 
most  sparkling  Champagne  of  life  exists  in  these  national 


300  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

dances.  It  is  amusing  to  compare  with  these  our  polkas 
and  other  popular  dances ;  they  are  not  deficient  in  this 
abounding,  sparkling  life,  but  they  want  refinement  and 
grace.  These  dissimilar  national  dances  stand  in  the 
same  relationship  as  Champagne,  and  ale,  and  mead. 

Matanzas,  March  1st. 
If  there  be  one  place  on  earth  where  the  spirit  of  life 
has  a  separate  individual  existence,  as  pure,  as  pleasant, 
as  full  of  vitality  as  when  it  first  was  breathed  forth  by 
the  Lord  of  life  and  love,  it  is — here.  The  atmosphere 
here  has  a  kind  of  vitalizing  life,  which  is  a  perpetual 
marvel  to  me  and  a  perpetual  delight.  It  is  especially  in 
the  afternoons,  after  two  or  three  o'clock,  that  this  pecul- 
iar, wonderful  life  arises.  It  is  one  constant  pleasant 
wafting,  not  from  any  particular  distance,  but  every  where, 
and  from  all  points,  which  makes  every  light  and  movable 
thing  around  you  waft,  and,  as  it  were,  breathe  and  live. 
That  indescribable,  but,  at  the  same  time,  pleasant  and 
life-giving  wafting  caresses  your  brow,  your  cheek  — 
lightly  lifts  your  dress,  your  ribbons — surrounds  you,  goes 
through  you,  as  it  were,  bathes  you  in  an  atmosphere  of 
salutary,  regenerating  life.  I  feel  its  influence  in  both 
soul  and  body ;  I  drink  that  wind,  that  air,  as  one  might 
drink  a  renovating  elixir  of  life,  and  I  am  ready  to  look 
round  to  see  whether  any  angel  is  near,  whether  any  heav- 
enly presence  sits  on  the  crowns  of  the  palms,  which  pro- 
duces this  wonderful  life.  I  call  it  the  breath  of  Grod,  as 
I  softly  walk  to  and  fro  on  the  piazza,  or  lean  over  the 
iron  railing  and  give  myself  up  to  its  caresses,  and  until 
late  at  night  inhale  its  salutary  life.  Oh  my  Agatha !  it 
whispers  to  me  wonderful  emotions  and  anticipations  of 
the  Creator's  wealth — of  those  hidden  glories  which  "  no 
eye  hath  seen,  no  ear  heard,  nor  hath  it  entered  into  the 
heart  of  man  to  conceive,  but  which  God  hath  prepared 
for  those  who  love  Him."  This  wonderful  spirit  of  life  is 
to  me  the  greatest  marvel  of  Cuba ;  and  I  can  not  de* 
seribe  how  beneficial  its  influence  seems  to  me. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  301 

Since  I  last  wrote  I  have  spent  more  delieiously  tran- 
quil days  at  Matanzas,  the  beautiful,  healthy  situation  of 
which  is  not  subject  to  oppressive  heats,  and  where  I  feel 
so  wonderfully  well.  Early  in  the  mornings  I  set  forth 
on  my  solitary  expeditions  of  discovery,  and  in  the  after- 
noon drive  out  in  a  volante  with  my  kind  hostess,  and 
breathe  the  soft  sea-breeze  as  we  drive  along  la  pleja. 

I  have  spent  one  whole  day  in  Yumori  Valley,  partly 
to  sketch  some  trees  and  cottages,  and  partly  to  see  how 
the  country  people  live  here.  For  this  purpose  I  determ- 
ined to  take  up  my  quarters  at  the  little  peasant  farm 
with  the  oleander- trees  ;  and  the  good  B.'s  allowed  me  to 
drive  there  in  their  volante,  and  take  with  me  one  of  their 
female  negroes  as  a  servant  and  interpreter.  Cecilia,  the 
negro  woman,  has  the  most  beautiful  dark  eyes  I  ever 
saw  in  a  dark  countenance — although  such  have  generally 
beautiful  eyes — teeth  like  Oriental  pearls,  and  a  quiet, 
gentle,  and  unusually  serious  demeanor.  My  poor  Cecilia 
is  ill,  and  probably  incurably  so,  of  consumption,  and  Mrs. 
B.  wishes  her  now  to  enjoy  a  little  country  air  and  life. 
Cecilia  is  only  lately  married  to  a  young  man  of  her  own 
color  ;  she  is  happy  in  her  marriage,  and  happy  as  the 
slave  of  good  owners,  and  would  gladly  live. 

When  we  reached  the  peasant  farm,  Cecilia  preferred 
my  request  to  la  fermiere,  who,  with  animated  gestures, 
immediately  declared  that  the  whole  house  was  at  my 
disposizion.  I  installed  myself  in  the  most  airy  of  the 
small  houses,  which  was  furnished  likewise  with  a  rustic 
piazza,  shaded  by  the  palm-leaf-thatched  roof.  The  floors 
were  of  bare  earth,  but  the  rooms  were  in  other  respects 
comfortable,  and  had  well-furnished  beds,  and  were  toler- 
ably clean.  A  little  colored  picture  on  paper  was  pasted 
on  the  wall  of  the  bed -room  proper,  representing  the  Vir- 
gin Mary  and  the  child  Jesus,  with  an  inscription  in  Span- 
ish. I  inquired  from  the  good  housewife  what  was  the 
purport  of  it,  and  she  replied,  with  an  aspect  of  devotion, 


302  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

that  "it  was  written  there  that  whoever  bought  such  a 
picture  obtained  forgiveness  of  sin  for  forty  days."  It  was 
also  printed  upon  the  picture  that  such  an  indulgence 
was  granted  a  todos  los  fideles,  as  owned  una  salve  a 
nuestra  Sennora  del  Rosario.  Cest  imprime. 
Below  the  picture  stood  the  following  verse : 

Fragranti  rosa  es  Maria 
En  el  jardin  celestiel, 
Y  el  amparo  maternel 
Del  peccador  cada  die. 

This  indulgence  for  the  sins  of  forty  days  might  be 
bought  for  a  quarter  of  a  pesos  (about  a  fourth  of  a  dol- 
lar). It  is  remarkable  that  in  a  country  where  such  per- 
missions for  sin  are  openly  prepared,  and  bought  and  sold, 
that  the  people  should  still  continue  pious  and  inoffens- 
ive ;  but  so  it  is.  The  poor  country  people  of  Cuba  are 
said  to  be  remarkable  for  their  good  and  quiet  disposition. 
It  is  certainly  owing  to  the  delicious  air !  The  people  of 
my  rural  abode  were  from  the  Canary  Islands,  where  it 
is  more  difficult  for  the  indigent  to  provide  for  themselves 
than  in  Cuba.  For  this  reason,  a  great  number  of  poor 
people,  whose  occupation  is  agriculture,  come  hither. 

At  about  ten  o'clock  my  hostess  went  up  to  some  high 
ground,  and  blew  upon  a  shell,  which  produced  a  shrill 
but  not  inharmonious  sound,  calculated  to  reach  to  a  great 
distance.  This  was  the  signal  for  the  men,  who  were  out 
at  work  in  the  valley,  to  assemble  for  breakfast.  The 
breakfast  was  prepared  for  seven  or  eight  persons  in  the 
piazza  under  the  straw  roof  of  the  little  house  which 
contained  the  kitchen.  A  parrot  (una  cotorra)  sat  below 
it  also,  in  its  cage  of  iron-wire.  Violet-blue  doves  flew 
around  us  hither  and  thither,  and  cocks  and  hens  prom- 
enaded round  us  with  the  queerest  twisted  necks,  which 
gave  them  a  deformed  look.  The  men,  both  old  and 
young,  with  gloomy,  cheerless  countenances,  assembled 
for  breakfast,  which   consisted  of  stock-fish  and   yams, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  303 

maize-bread,  roasted  plantains  (a  coarse  kind  of  bananas), 
and  flesh-meat,  besides  which  was  a  sort  of  light  yellow 
meal,  served  in  a  large  bowl,  but  the  name  of  which  1 
could  not  learn,  because  Cecilia  spoke  but  imperfect  En- 
glish. The  breakfast  was  abundant,  but  badly  set  out  and 
badly  cooked. 

The  dinner  consisted  of  boiled  meat,  brown  beans,  and 
boiled  rice;  but  all  so  insufficiently  boiled,  so  hard  and 
insipid,  that  I  could  not  eat  any  thing  which  the  kind- 
hearted  fermiere  heaped  up  on  a  plate  for  me,  and  if 
Cecilia  had  not  brought  for  herself  some  rice  and  pota- 
toes (I  would  not  bring  more  with  us),  which  she  cooked 
and  she  and  I  ate  with  fresh  butter,  also  from  my  Ma- 
tanzas  home,  I  must  have  suffered  that  day  from  hunger. 
Now,  however,  I  lived  like  a  shepherdess  in  a  story,  and 
crowned  my  xneal  with  bananas  and  delicate  sugar-cake. 

I  talked  about  many  things  with  my  good  Cecilia.  She 
had  been  stolen  as  a  child  from  Africa;  she  was  only 
eight  years  old  when  she  was  taken  from  her  mother,  and 
this  mother  remained  lovingly  impressed  on  her  memory. 
She  remembered  how  her  mother  had  loved  her,  how  ten- 
der she  had  been  toward  her,  and  Cecilia  wished  to  re- 
turn to  Africa  that  she  might  see  her  once  more.  She 
made  no  complaints  of  her  master  and  mistress  ;  they  had 
always  been  kind  to  her,  she  said,  and  now  especially  was 
she  happy  in  her  situation;  but  she  longed  to  see  her 
mother  once  more. 

And  Cecilia  will  see  her  mother  before  long,  but  not 
on  this  earth. 

Two  little  dark-eyed  children,  Joannito  and  Annita,  were 
my  play-fellows  in  the  cottage,  especially  the  little  boy, 
who  was  full  of  merriment,  and  yet  in  a  quiet  and  agree- 
able way. 

I  drew  a  little,  sitting  in  the  piazza,  under  the  straw 
roof,  and  when  the  heat  of  the  day  was  over  I  set  out  with 
Cecilia  to  explore  the  valley  to  its  full  extent.     "We  did 


304  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

so,  although  the  ramble  was  a  long  one,  and  Cecilia  was 
so  fatigued  that  I  became  very  anxious  about  her.  But, 
by  resting  at  various  places  by  the  way,  we  at  length 
reached  the  cottage  in  safety,  though  not  until  after  the 
sun  had  set,  when  the  stars  shone  brightly  down  into  the 
valley.  We  did  not  meet  with  any  one,  excepting  some 
Monteros  in  the  twilight,  who  saluted  us  in  their  melodi- 
ous voices  with  a  "Buona  tardi"  or  "Adiosf" 

The  valley  retained  to  its  close  very  much  the  same 
features  ;  a  succession  of  beautiful  palm-groves,  here  and 
there  a  little  group  of  palm-leaf-thatched  houses  ;  and  to- 
ward the  end  of  the  valley,  which  was  there  also  inclosed 
by  hills,  although  not  equal  in  height  to  Pan  de  Matan- 
zas  and  Combre,  lay  a  sugar  plantation,  with  a  sugar- 
mill,  negro  slaves,  a  slave  village,  &c,  belonging  to  it. 
The  beautiful  valley  even  has  its  share  in  the  old  curse. 
The  crimson  glow  of  sunset,  seen  above  the  verdant 
heights,  and  the  calm  splendor  of  heaven  through  the 
palm-trees,  were  indescribably  beautiful,  and  when  the 
stars  shone  forth  they  appeared  to  me  larger  and  brighter 
than  I  had  ever  seen  them  before. 

This  beautiful  valley  has,  however,  no  memories  wor- 
thy of  the  pure  glances  of  heaven.  It  derives  its  name, 
it  is  said,  from  the  death-cry  of  its  Indian  aborigines,  "  Io 
more"  when  they,  in  order  to  escape  being  massacred  by 
the  Spaniards,  flung  themselves  from  the  heights  down 
into  the  river  which  divides  one  portion  of  the  valley.  And 
of  the  little  farm  in  the  palm-grove  imbosomed  in  the 
hills,  the  loveliness  of  which  enchanted  me  the  first  morn- 
ing I  was  here,  nothing  is  related  excepting  a  bloody  fam- 
ily-quarrel. A  father  dwelt  there  with  several  sons.  They 
were  to  divide  the  farm,  but  a  quarrel  arose  about  the 
boundaries  of  the  property,  and  every  night  one  landmark 
or  another  was  removed.  One  morning — one  of  those 
beautiful  tropical  mornings! — the  brothers,  who  had  quar- 
reled about  the  landmarks,  came  to  blows ;  other  mem- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  305 

bers  of  the  family  rushed  in  to  take  one  side  or  the  other, 
and  the  result  of  the  combat  was  eleven  dead  bodies. 
Such  is  the  story  which  was  told  me.  It  occurred  not 
so  long  since,  and  the  farm  is  now  possessed  by  one  of  the 
sons  who  remained. 

Such  are  the  traditions  of  Yumori  Valley  ;  and  Matan- 
zas — Matanzas,  where  the  wafting  breath  of  life  plays 
round  you  with  such  enchanting  vitality — Matanzas  is 
the  name  for  "  the  field  of  blood,"  or  "the  battle-field," 
and  is  so  called  from  a  bloody  battle  which  was  fought 
here  many  hundred  years  ago  by  the  Indian  aborigines. 
It  is  sorrowful  to  think  of  it.  It  is  not,  however,  without 
pleasure  that  I  feel  the  breath  of  G-od  in  the  wind  pass 
over  the  formerly  bloody  field.  It  seems  to  say,  when  all 
scenes  of  murder  and  violence  cease  on  the  earth,  He  is 
still  the  same,  and  His  life  the  same,  eternally  effica- 
cious, eternally  salutary,  regenerating  ;  and  these  beauti- 
ful palms,  Cupid's  tears,  and  humming-birds,  and  all  the 
beautiful  existences  and  shapes  of  life,  shall  appear  with 
it,  and — remain. 

Mrs.  B.'s  volante  came  to  fetch  me  and  Cecilia  in  the 
deep  twilight.  We  took  with  us  sugar-cane  from  the 
plantation,  which  Cecilia  desired  for  the  little  girls  at 
home ;  and,  as  a  token  of  her  hearty  good-will,  my  good 
fermiere  gave  me  as  a  parting  gift  her  indulgence  for  for- 
ty days'  sins,  and  which  I  shall  take  with  me  to  Sweden 
and  present  to  Bishop  Fahlcrantz. 

I  returned  home,  half  roasted  in  my  rural  abode,  and 
for  three  days  afterward  had  to  work  hard  in  freeing  my- 
self from  swarms  of  fleas,  which  I  brought  back  with  me 
from  my  Arcadian  excursion. 

The  number  of  small  insects  of  various  kinds  is  really 
one  of  the  torments  of  this  country,  and  I  found  this 
plague  also  in  South  Carolina  and  Georgia.  If  one  left 
a  little  piece  of  cake  or  bread  lying  in  the  rooms,  it  was 
immediately  surrounded  by  a  swarm  of  little  worms  and 


306  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

creeping  things.  Here  in  Cuba  it  is  the  ants  which  are 
especially  troublesome,  one  small  kind  of  which  will,  it  is 
said,  undermine  a  large  house. 

During  the  days  that  I  amused  myself  by  drawing  my 
little  memorials  of  the  valley  of  Yumori,  and  among  other 
lovely  things,  the  Cupid's  tears  kissed  by  the  little  hum- 
ming-birds, I  had  laid  some  of  those  flowers  upon  the  table 
beside  me — that  is  to  say,  some  of  the  small  red  blossoms 
which  had  fallen — that  I  might  examine  at  my  leisure 
their  form  and  veining.  To  my  surprise,  however,  I  ob- 
served that  one  after  another  of  these  blossoms  disappeared 
from  the  table.  I  laid  some  fresh  ones  there,  but  it  was 
not  long  before  they  too  had  vanished.  I  could  not  un- 
derstand how  it  was.  By  chance,  however,  casting  my 
eyes  toward  one  of  the  walls  of  the  room,  I  there,  to  my 
astonishment,  beheld  my  flowers  advancing  in  a  long  row 
up  it  to  the  very  ceiling.  Very,  very  small  light-colored 
ants  were  dragging  them  up,  and  had  made  a  regular  line 
from  my  table  up  to  the  ceiling,  where  they  disappeared. 
They  were  so  small  and  light  that  I  at  first  had  not  no- 
ticed them.  One  single  ant  dragged  in  this  way  up  the 
wall  a  blossom  which  was  twelve  times  larger  than  itself. 

I  was  one  evening  one  of  the  spectators  of  a  great  ball 
given  by  the  free  negroes  of  Matanzas  for  La  Casa  de 
Beneficienza  in  the  city,  to  which  the  white  public  were 
invited  by  the  black.  The  ball  took  place  in  the  theatre, 
and  the  gazing  public  occupied  the  boxes.  Mr.  B.,  and 
my  young  and  agreeable  countryman,  Mr.  F.,  accompa- 
nied me ;  and  one  of  my  unknown  benefactors,  who,  I  be- 
lieve, was  a  Spaniard,  hastened  forward  at  the  entrance 
to  the  theatre  and  paid  the  admission  fee  for  the  foreign 
signora.  And  speaking  of  this,  I  may  as  well  mention 
what  I  have  here  heard  of  the  politeness  of  Spaniards  to 
ladies,  which  exceeds  any  thing  that  I  have  experienced 
among  other  nations ;  even  the  chivalry  of  the  Americans 
is  not  to  be  compared  to  it.     It  is  true,  at  times  it  seems 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  307 

to  be  more  than  necessary,  and  it  may  be  mere  sham  and 
hollowness;  but  there  is,  nevertheless,  something  beauti- 
ful and  noble  at  the  bottom,  in  its  usages  and  forms.  As, 
for  instance,  ladies,  and  even  gentlemen  who  are  stran- 
gers, will  not  be  allowed  to  pay  for  their  own  purchases 
at  fancy-shops,  in  eating-houses,  confectioners'  shops,  and 
such  like,  or  for  their  tickets  at  the  theatres ;  and  yet  nei- 
ther the  lady  nor  the  stranger-gentleman  will  have  any 
idea  to  whom  it  is  that  he  is  obliged  for  this  politeness. 
Suppose,  now,  that  you  go  to  a  perfumer's  to  purchase  a 
bottle  of  eau  de  rose,  or  to  a  confectioner's  for  un  libro  de 
dulces  (Cuba  dulces,  or  sweetmeats,  are  very  celebrated), 
and  you  are  about  to  pay  for  them.  You  take  out  your 
pesos,  but  they  are  returned  to  you  with  a  polite  bow,  and 
"It  costs  you  nothing,  signoraV  And  it  will  do  no  good 
though  you  should  remonstrate,  neither  is  it  worth  while. 
Some  gentleman  has  been,  or  is  then  among  the  purchas- 
ers, perhaps  unknown  to  you,  but  well  known  to  the  peo- 
ple of  the  shop,  and  he  has  given  a  secret  sign  or  nod, 
which  has  expressed,  "I  shall  pay  for  her!"  and  then  has 
left  the  shop,  or  goes  on  reading  his  newspaper,  and  you 
never  know  to  whom  you  are  obliged  for  this  polite  at- 
tention. Two  of  my  lady  acquaintances  at  Havana  told 
me  that  they  were  annoyed  and  distressed  by  continual 
politeness  of  this  kind,  and  which  laid  them  under  silent 
obligations  which  they  had  no  means  of  discharging;  and 
I  can  very  well  understand  that  the  thing  may  have  its 
annoyances,  but  it  is  very  polite  nevertheless  ;  and  to- 
ward a  foreigner  and  a  stranger,  it  is  a  politeness  which 
is  both  beautiful  and  noble,  when  it  declines  the  possibil- 
ity of  thanks. 

But  to  return  to  the  negro  banquet  and  ball. 

A  banquet,  arranged  with  flowers,  lamps,  and  orna- 
ments, occupied  the  lower  part  of  the  dancing  hall.  The 
dancers  amounted  to  between  two  and  three  hundred 
oersons.     The  black  ladies  were,  for  the  most  part,  well 


308  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

dressed,  after  the  French  mode,  and  many  of  them  very 
fine.  Some  couples  danced,  with  great  dignity  and  pre- 
cision, some  exceedingly  tiresome  minuets.  What  a  fool- 
ish dance  it  is  when  it  is  not  danced  with  beauty  by  beau- 
tiful or  charming  people !  The  principal  lady  in  this  case 
was  so  ugly,  spite  of  her  really  magnificent  apparel  and 
fine  carriage,  as  to  remind  me  of  a  dressed-up  ape,  and 
the  movements  of  the  cavaliers  were  deficient  in  natural 
elasticity,  which  the  negroes  in  general  seemed  to  want. 

But  the  great  dance  of  the  ball,  a  kind  of  wreath- 
dance,  in  which  the  whole  company  took  part,  amid  in- 
numerable artistic  entanglements  and  disentanglements 
— the  grouping  and  inwreathing  themselves,  in  an  infi- 
nite variety  of  ways,  with  chains  of  artificial  roses — all 
this  was  really  lovely  and  picturesque,  and  was  executed 
with  exquisite  precision;  and  if  there  had  been  a  little 
less  formality,  and  more  natural  animation,  I  could  have 
believed  that  I  beheld  in  it  a  type  of  civilized  negro  life. 
Those  beautiful  dark  eyes,  those  splendid  white  teeth,  in 
some  pretty  young  girls  especially,  shone  out  joyously 
while  they  bent  their  heads  and  then  rose  from  beneath 
the  arches  of  rose-garlands. 

Many  of  the  negroes  were  wealthy,  and  one  young  ne- 
gro was  pointed  out  to  me  in  the  company  as  being  pos- 
sessed of  property  to  the  amount  of  20,000  dollars. 

The  Spanish  law  for  the  West  Indian  colonies,  los  lejes 
de  los  Indios,  has  some  excellent  and  just  enactments,  as 
regards  the  rights  and  the  emancipation  of  negro  slaves, 
which  those  of  the  American  states  are  still  deficient  in, 
to  their  shame  be  it  spoken !  Their  laws  are  purely  op- 
posed to  the  slave's  acquisition  of  freedom  and  independ- 
ence. The  laws  of  the  Spaniards  favor  the  slaves  in  these 
respects.  Here  the  slave  is  able  to  purchase  his  own  free- 
dom for  the  stipulated  legal  sum  of  five  hundred  dollars, 
and  the  judges  (syndics)  are  commanded  to  watch  over 
the  rights  of  the  slave.     Here  a  mother  may  purchase  the 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  309 

freedom  of  her  child,  before  its  birth,  for  fifteen  dollars, 
and  after  its  birth  for  double  that  sura.  She  may  eman- 
cipate her  child. 

Slaves  here,  at  all  events  in  the  cities,  have  a  much  bet- 
ter chance  of  acquiring  money  than  in  the  American  slave 
states ;  and,  as  free  negroes,  they  are  able  to  carry  on 
trade,  to  rent  land,  to  pursue  agriculture  and  other  occu- 
pations ;  and  many  free  negroes  have  acquired  property 
by  trade.  On  the  other  hand,  the  condition  of  the  slaves 
on  the  plantations  here  is,  in  general,  much  worse ;  they 
are  worked  much  harder,  and  they  lack  all  religious  in- 
struction. They  are  regarded  altogether  as  cattle,  and  the 
slave-trade  with  Africa  is  still  carried  on  actively,  although 
privately.  A  few  days  ago  a  cargo  of  seven  hundred  ne- 
groes was  secretly  conveyed  from  Africa  to  Havana.*  The 
government  of  the  island  received  fifty  dollars  for  each 
slave  as  "hush-money,"  and  was  silent.  Pleasant  and 
honorable ! 

The  negroes  in  the  cities  look  cheerful  and  healthy. 
One  sees  many  handsome,  well-grown,  and  not  unfre- 
quently  splendidly  dressed  mulatto  women  on  the  prom- 
enades and  in  the  churches.  The  fair  mulattoes  so  nearly 
resemble  the  Spaniards  in  complexion  and  feature  that  it 
is  difficult  to  distinguish  them.  The  Spaniards  are  said 
to  be,  in  general,  very  kind  to  their  domestic  slaves,  and 
not  unfrequently  indulgent  to  their  weaknesses. 

March  2.  Good-morning,  my  little  heart !  I  have  just 
returned  from  mass  in  Matanzas  church,  for  Matanzas  has 
only  one  church,  although  it  has  a  population  of  above 
thirty  thousand  souls.  I  heard  there  thundering  music 
from  the  Spanish  soldiery  of  the  city,  which  greatly  re- 
sembled the  music  of  the  dance  ;  saw  great  parade  of  those 
*  These  poor  creatures  are  not  sold  here  publicly,  but  in  secret.  They 
are  said  to  be  emaciated  in  a  high  degree,  and  look  miserable  when  they 
are  first  landed,  after  the  voyage  from  Africa,  which  is  a  three  weeks' 
martyrdom  for  them ;  and  they  require  to  be  fed  up  and  brought  into 
condition  before  they  can  tempt  purchasers. 


310  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

occupying  the  centre  aisle  of  the  church ;  groups  of  ladies 
on  their  knees  on  splendid  mats,  many  of  them  handsome, 
and  all  in  grand  array  of  silk  and  velvet,  jewels  or  flow- 
ers, with  bare  necks  and  arms ;  all  with  transparent  veils, 
black  or  white,  thrown  over  the  gayly-attired  form,  and 
evidently  more  occupied  with  their  appearance  than  with 
their  prayer-books  ;  around  them  stood  rows  of  well-dress- 
ejd  gentlemen,  evidently  more  occupied  with  gazing  at  the 
ladies  than  with — any  thing  else  ;  divine  service  and  de- 
votion existed  not,  excepting  in  the  hearts  of  two  persons — 
at  least  judging  from  appearance — the  one  an  elderly  man, 
and  a  Spaniard,  the  other  a  mulatto  woman.  The  rest 
was  a  grand  show  of  priests  and  ceremonial.  The  choir 
of  the  church  was  in  a  gallery  near  the  roof,  covered  with 
palm-branches,  banners,  and  holy  pictures.  Palm-leaves 
were  blessed  and  distributed.  The  Spanish  soldiers  took 
part  in  the  solemnity,  standing  in  line  in  the  church ; 
most  of  them  appeared  to  be  young  men  of  slender  figure, 
and  refined  and  handsome  features.  Slaves,  both  male 
and  female,  after  they  had  rolled  out  the  mats  for  their 
mistresses  and  their  daughters,  withdrew  themselves  into 
the  background  of  the  church,  where  they  knelt  upon  the 
bare  floor.  A  stranger  and  a  Protestant  knelt  there  among 
them  and  prayed — for  them  as  well  as  for  herself  and  her 
beloved  ones.  But  her  prayer  here  for  herself  is  thanks- 
giving. She  also  received  some  of  the  blessed  palm-leaves, 
and  will  convey  them  to  her  home  in  the  remote  North, 
in  memory  of  this  morning  hour.  It  was  a  beautiful, 
warm,  sunny  morning.  Life  looked  delicious  and  easy 
for  all.  Oh!  if  the  inner  life  here  only  corresponded  to  the 
outer,  how  easy  it  would  be  to  live  and  to  crown  one's 
self  with  garlands ! 

The  costume  of  those  beautiful  ladies  gave  me  pleasure, 
although  I  can  not  approve  of  it  for  a  church,  and  that 
Spanish  mantilla,  which,  however,  is  said  to  be  going 
more  and  more  out  of  use,  produces  an  infinitely  pictur- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  311 

esque  effect.  The  negro  and  mulatto  women  use  it  most- 
ly as  a  long  shawl  and  of  thicker  material,  to  screen  them 
from  the  sun  when  they  are  out  in  the  middle  of  the  day. 
Sometimes,  and  even  to-day,  I  have  seen  ladies,  evidently 
not  of  the  lower  class,  dressed  in  garments  of  coarse  gray 
sackcloth,  and  with  this  scarf  of  the  same  cloth  over  the 
head.  I  have  been  told  that  this  is  in  fulfillment  of  some 
vow  or  prayer,  made  in  time  of  need,  or  of  sickness  for 
themselves  or  their  friends. 

I  shall  to-day  leave  Matanzas  to  accompany  my  kind 
friends  to  a  sugar-plantation  belonging  to  Mrs.  B.'s  par- 
ents, at  a  place  called  Limonar,  about  fifteen  miles  off.  I 
shall  there  study  trees  and  flowers,  and  the  Lord  knows 
what  else.  After  a  stay  of  a  few  days  at  Limonar,  I  shall 
go  to  Madame  De  C.'s,  who  resides  on  a  large  sugar-plan- 
tation situated  between  Matanzas  and  the  city  of  Cardi- 
nas.  Kind  and  hospitable  people  provide  me  here  also 
with  opportunities  of  seeing  the  country  and  the  people, 
and  I  can  not  say  how  thankful  I  am  for  this  kindness. 

Ariadne  Inhegno,  March  7th. 
I  have  now  been  here  for  more  than  a  week  in  the  very 
lap  of  slavery,  and  during  the  first  few  days  of  my  visit  I 
was  so  depressed  that  I  was  not  able  to  do  much.  Close 
before  my  window — the  residence  of  the  planter  is  a  large 
one-storied  house — I  .could  not  avoid  seeing  the  whole  day 
a  group  of  negro  women  working  under  the  whip,  the 
cracking  of  which  (in  the  air,  however)  above  their  heads, 
and  the  driver's  (a  negro)  impatiently-repeated  cry  of 
"Arrea!  ArreaV  be  quick!  get  on!  kept  them  work- 
ing on  without  any  intermission.  And  through  the  night 
— the  whole  night — I  heard  their  weary  footsteps,  as  they 
spread  out  to  dry  upon  the  flagged  pavement,  outside  my 
window,  the  crushed  sugar-cane  which  they  carried  from 
the  sugar-mill.  In  the  daytime  it  is  their  work  to  rake 
up  together  the  sun-dried  canes,  la  bagaza,  and  carry 
them  in  baskets  again  to  the  sugar-mill,  where  they  serve 


312  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

as  fuel  to  heat  the  furnaces  in  which  the  sugar  is  boiled. 
The  work  on  a  sugar-plantation  must  go  on  incessantly, 
night  and  day,  during  the  whole  time  of  the  sugar-har- 
vest, which  is,  in  Cuba,  during  the  whole  season  called  la 
Secca,  which  is  probably  half  the  year.  It  is  true  that  I 
frequently  heard  the  women  chattering  and  laughing  dur- 
ing their  incessant  labor,  untroubled  by  the  cracking  of 
the  whip,  and  that  during'the  night  I  often  heard  African 
songs  and  merry  shouts,  but  which — sounding  from  the 
sugar-mill — lacked  all  melody  and  music.  I  know  also 
that  the  laborers  on  this  plantation  were  changed  every 
seven  hours,  so  that  they  always  have  six  hours  in  every 
four-and-twenty  for  rest  and  refreshment ;  and  that  dur- 
ing two  nights  in  the  week  the  sugar-mill  rests,  and  they 
are  able  to  sleep  ;  but  still  I  could  not  reconcile  myself  to 
it.  Neither  can  I  now,  but  I  can  bear  it  better,  since  I 
have  seen  the  cheerfulness  of  the  slaves  at  their  work, 
and  their  good,  pleasant,  and  even  joyous  appearance,  as 
a  general  rule,  on  this  plantation. 

I  have  several  times  visited  the  Negro- Slaves'  Bohea, 
which  is  a  kind  of  low  fortress-like  wall,  built  on  the 
four  sides  of  a  large,  square  court-yard,  with  a  large  gate- 
way on  one  side,  which  is  locked  at  night.  The  slaves' 
dwellings  are  within  the  wall — one  room  for  each  family 
— and  open  into  the  court.  Nothing  is  to  be  seen  on  the 
outside  of  the  wall  but  a  row  of  small  openings,  secured 
with  iron  bars,  one  to  each  room,  and  so  high  in  the  wall 
that  the  slaves  can  not  look  out  from  within.  In  the 
middle  of  the  large  court-yard  is  a  building  which  serves 
as  a  cooking-kitchen,  wash-house,  &c.  I  have  been  pres- 
ent in  this  bohea  more  than  once  at  the  slaves'  meal- 
times, and  seen  them  fetch  their  calabash  bowls  full  of 
snow-white  rice,  which  had  been  boiled  for  them  in  an 
immense  kettle,  and  which  the  black  cook  dealt  out  with 
a  ladle,  and  with  what  seemed  to  me  unreserved  liberal- 
ity.    I  have  seen  the  slaves'  white  teeth  shine  out,  and 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  3!3 

heard  them  chattering  and  laughing  as  they  devoured  the 
white  rice  grains,  of  which  they  are  very  fond  (many 
times  helping  themselves  to  them  with  their  fingers). 
They  have,  besides,  salt  fish  and  smoked  meat;  I  saw 
also,  in  some  of  their  rooms,  bunches  of  bananas  and  to- 
matoes. According  to  law,  a  planter  must  furnish  each 
slave  with  a  certain  measure  of  dried  fish  or  salted  meat 
per  week,  together  with  a  certain  number  of  bananas. 
But  the  slave-master,  of  course,  does  just  as  he  pleases, 
for  what  law  will  call  him  to  account  ?  The  appearance, 
however,  of  the  slaves  on  this  plantation  testifies  evi- 
dently of  their  being  well  fed  and  well  contented. 

I  often  made  the  inquiry  as  I  pointed  to  their  food, 
E  buono  ?  and  always  received  in  reply  the  words  Si  e 
buono  !  with  a  contented  and  ready  smile. 

I  have  already  heard  it  said  in  America  that  the  French 
were  considered  the  most  judicious  of  slaveholders ;  and 
my  host  here,  Mr.  C,  who  is  of  French  origin,  born  in 
St.  Domingo,  is  a  proof  to  me  of  the  truth  of  this  asser- 
tion. He  works  his  slaves  very  hard  ;  but  he  feeds  them 
well,  and  takes  good  care  of  them,  and  they  do  their  work 
cheerfully  and  quickly. 

Mr.  C.  is  a  courteous,  lively,  and  loquacious  French- 
man, with  a  good  deal  of  acuteness  and  sagacity  of  mind ; 
and  I  have  to  thank  him  for  much  valuable  information 
— among  other  things,  on  the  various  negro  tribes  of  Af- 
rica, their  character,  life,  and  social  state  on  the  coast, 
from  which  the  greater  number  of  slaves  are  brought 
hither — for  the  most  part  purchased  from  African  chiefs, 
according  to  agreement  with  the  white  slave-dealer — 
Mr.  C.  having  himself  been  there,  and  being  therefore 
good  authority  on  the  subject.  I  have  also  learned  from 
him  how  to  distinguish  the  different  tribes  by  their  char- 
acteristic features,  and  their  various  modes  of  tattooing 
themselves. 

The  Congo  negroes,  called  the  Frenchmen  of  Africa,  are 

Vol.  II.— 0 


314  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

a  vivacious,  gay,  but  vain  people;  they  have  depressed 
noses,  wide  mouths,  thick  lips,  splendid  teeth,  and  high 
cheek-bones  ;  they  are  strong  and  broad  built,  but  not  tall 
of  stature.  The  Grangas  negroes  are  kindred  to  the  Con- 
goes.  The  Luccomees  and  Mandingoes,  on  the  contrary, 
the  noblest  of  these  coast  tribes,  are  tall  of  stature,  with 
handsome  and  often  remarkably  regular,  and  even  noble 
features,  the  expression  of  which  is  grave.  The  negro 
preachers  and  fortune-tellers  are  principally  of  the  Man- 
dingo  tribes.  The  Luccomees  are  a  proud  and  contentious 
people ;  they  are  difficult  to  manage  in  the  commencement 
of  their  life  of  slavery ;  they  are  lovers  of  freedom,  and 
easily  excited  to  violence  ;  but  if  they  are  well  and  justly 
treated — (such  just  treatment  as  they  can  receive  when 
they  are  held  as  slaves !) — they  become  in  a  few  years 
the  best  and  the  most  confidential  laborers  on  the  planta- 
tion. The  Callavalis,  or  Caraballis  negroes,  are  also  a 
good  people,  although  more  lazy  and  careless.  I  have 
seen  among  them  some  magnificent  figures.  They  have 
flatter  noses  and  broader  countenances  than  the  Lucco- 
mees, and  the  expression  is  not  so  grave.  All  the  ne- 
groes here  are  tattooed  in  the  face  ;  some  around  the  eyes, 
others  on  the  cheek-bones,  and  so  on,  according  to  the 
custom  of  the  nation  to  which  they  belong.  The  greater 
number — even  of  the  men — wear  necklaces  of  red  or  of 
blue  beads — the  red,  the  coral-like  seed  of  a  kind  of  tree 
on  the  island ;  and  the  greater  number,  men  as  well  as 
women,  wear  striped  cotton  handkerchiefs  bound  around 
the  head.  There  is*here  a  negro  of  the  Fellah  tribe,  a 
little  man,  with  delicate  features,  and  the  long,  black, 
shining  hair  which  is  said  to  be  peculiar  to  this  tribe. 

Such  are  the  principal  of  the  negro  tribes  and  charac- 
teristics with  which  I  have  become  acquainted. 

But  I  must  tell  you  about  one  negro,  whose  history  is 
closely  connected  with  the  family  on  this  plantation,  and 
which  has  been  related  to  me.     It  is  a  beautiful  instance 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  315 

of  the  peculiar  nobility  of  the  negro  character  when  this 
approaches  its  proper  development.  This  man  is  called 
Samedi,  or  Saturday,  and  was  the  servant  of  Mr.  C.'s  par- 
ents in  St.  Domingo  when  the  celebrated  massacre  took 
place  there,  and  from  which  he  saved,  at  the  peril  of  his 
own  life,  the  two  sons,  then  boys,  of  his  master,  my  host 
being  one  of  them.  He  carried  them  on  his  shoulders  in 
the  night,  through  all  dangers,  down  to  the  harbor,  where 
he  had  secured  for  himself  and  the  boys  a  passage  in  a 
small  vessel  to  Charleston,  in  South  Carolina.  Safely  ar- 
rived here,  he  placed  the  two  boys  at  school,  and  hired 
himself  out  as  a  servant.  He  and  the  boys  also  had  lost 
every  thing  they  possessed  in  the  horrible  night  at  St.  Do- 
mingo. He  had  been  alone  able  to  save  their  lives.  He 
now  maintained  and  clothed  them  and  himself  by  his  la- 
bor. Each  week  he  took  to  the  boys  each  three  dollars 
of  his  wages,  and  this  he  continued  till  the  boys  grew  into 
young  men,  and  he  an  old  man. 

My  host  went  to  sea,  and  acquired  wealth  by  his  ability 
and  good  fortune.  Afterward,  when  he  was  possessed  of 
a  plantation  in  Cuba,  and  had  married,  he  took  old  Satur- 
day to  live  with  him ;  and  now  he  took  care  of  him  in 
his  turn,  and  every  week  gave  to  him  three  dollars  as 
pocket-money  in  return  for  those  which  he  had  received 
from  this  magnanimous  negro  in  his  boyish  years.  Old 
Saturday  lived  here  long  and  happily,  and  free  from  care, 
beloved  and  esteemed  by  all.  He  died  two  years  since  in 
extreme  old  age.  He  was  an  upright  Christian,  and  very 
pious.  It  was,  therefore,  a  surprise  to  his  master  after  his 
death  to  find  thp.t  he  wore  upon  his  breast  an  African 
amulet,  a  piece  of  folded  paper  printed  very  «s mall,  with 
letters  and  words  in  an  African  tongue,  and  to  which  the 
negroes  appear  to  ascribe  a  supernatural  power.  But 
good  Christianity  does  not  trouble  herself  about  such  little 
heathenish  superstition,  the  remains  of  twilight  after  the 
old  night.     Our  good  Christian  peasantry  of  Sweden  can 


3}6  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

not  help  still  believing  in  fairies  and  witchcraft,  in  wise 
men  and  women,  and  I  myself  believe  in  them  to  a  cer- 
tain degree.  There  is  still  witchcraft  enough  prevailing, 
but 

The  good  can  say  our  dear  Lord's  prayer, 

And  fear  neither  witch  nor  devil ! 

Still,  nevertheless, 

It  is  so  dark,  far,  far  away  in  the  forest ! 

What  do  you  now  say  to  this  negro  slave  ?  Ought,  in- 
deed, a  race  of  people  which  can  show  such  heroes,  ever 
to  have  been  enslaved  ?  But  this  conduct  of  Saturday's 
is  by  no  means  a  solitary  instance  of  its  kind  in  that  bloody 
night  of  St.  Domingo.  Many  slaves  saved,  or  endeavored 
to  save,  their  masters  or  their  children,  and  many  lost  their 
lives  in  the  attempt. 

My  visit  to  the  slaves'  bohea  was  not  so  consolatory  to 
me  as  two  visits  which  I  paid  to  the  cottages  of  the  free 
negroes  in  the  village  of  Limonar,  which  is  very  near  this 
plantation.  Early  one  beautiful  morning  I  set  off  thither 
on  an  expedition  of  discovery.  The  small  houses  there, 
some  of  bark,  others  of  woven  brushwood,  were  all  built 
in  the  form  of  cones,  with  palm-leaf  roofs,  and  surrounded 
with  cocoa-nut,  palm,  and  other  tropical  trees,  so  that  the 
whole  village  had  an  African  appearance,  at  least  accord- 
ing to  what  I  have  read  and  heard  of  African  huts  and 
cities.  There  was  a  certain  picturesque  disorder  in  every 
thing — a  beauty  in  the  beautiful  trees,  which  was  refresh- 
ing after  the  Anglo-American  regularity.  The  huts  seem- 
ed built  by  guess,  and  with  as  little  trouble  as  possible, 
and  the  trees  had  sprung  up  of  themselves  out  of  the  warm 
earth  to  overshadow  them.  Each  little  homestead  stood 
in  the  morning  sun  like  an  earthly  paradise.  And  they 
were  earthly  paradises,  these  little  farms  with  their  bark 
huts  and  palms  ;  they  were,  the  greater  number  of  them, 
the  abodes  of  free  negroes.  I  was  not  sure  of  this,  as  yet, 
this  morning,  but  I  had  a  presentiment  of  it  as  I  wander- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  317 

ed  through  the  village.  Some  unusual-looking  trees  and 
fruit  in  a  little  inclosure  to  the  right  attracted  me,  and 
there  I  determined  to  make  a  morning  visit.  The  little 
gate  was  the  most  rickety  gate  in  the  world,  but  the  most 
willing  to  allow  ingress.  I  passed  through  it,  and,  ad- 
vancing along  a  little  sanded  path,  which  wound  round  to 
the  left,  arrived  at  a  palm-thatched  bark  hut,  under  some 
cocoa  palms.  A  little  below  lay  a  shadowy  grove  of  ba- 
nana and  mango  trees,  and  trees  with  a  kind  of  white, 
round  fruit  hanging  from  their  flexile  branches ;  near  the 
hut  grew  the  tall  trees,  like  some  kind  of  palm,  which  had 
particularly  attracted  my  attention  ;  they  were,  I  found, 
cactus  plants  and  flowers.  I  was  here  struck,  beyond  ev- 
ery thing  else,  with  a  general  appearance  of  order  and  at- 
tention, which  it  is  very  unusual  to  find  in  and  about  the 
houses  of  the  children  of  Africa.  The  hut  was  well  built 
and  kept  up,  and  the  numerous  tropical  trees  around  it 
had  evidently  been  planted  con  amove.  The  little  hut  had 
also  its  piazza  under  the  palm-leaf  roof,  and  some  sugar- 
cane was  lying  on  the  table. 

The  door  stood  open  ;  fire  burned  on  the  floor — a  certain 
sign  that  it  was  inhabited  by  an  African  !  The  morning 
sun  shone  in  through  the  door,  and  I  also  looked  in.  The 
interior  was  spacious,  neat,  and  clean.  On  the  left  sat 
an  old  negro  on  his  low  bed,  dressed  in  a  blue  shirt  and 
woolen  cap ;  he  sat  with  his  elbows  propped  on  his  knees, 
and  his  face  resting  on  his  hands,  turned  toward  the  fire, 
and  evidently  half  asleep.  He  did  not  see  me,  and  I  there- 
fore could  look  around  me  undisturbed.  An  iron  pot  with 
a  plate  over  it  stood  on  the  fire,  and  before  the  fire  sat  a 
tortoise-shell  cat,  and  by  her,  on  one  leg,  stood  a  white 
chicken.  Fire,  iron  pot,  cat,  and  chicken,  every  thing 
seemed  half  asleep  in  the  sunshine  which  streamed  in 
upon  them.  The  cat  just  looked  at  me,  then  winked  her 
eyes  again,  and  gazed  at  the  fire.  It  was  a  picture  of  real 
tropical  still-life.     Golden  ears  of  maize-corn,  fruit,  and 


318  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

dried  meat,  and  garden-tools  hung  upon  the  brown  walls 
of  the  cottage. 

In  a  little  while  the  old  man  rose  up,  and,  without  ob- 
serving me,  turned  himself  round  and  began  to  lay  to- 
gether his  bed-clothes,  very  little  of  which,  however,  the 
bed  possessed.  He  folded  up  sheets  and  coverlid,  and 
finally  rolled  up  a  small,  closely  woven,  and  handsome 
mat,  which  served  as  a  mattress.  When  he  had  laid  them 
aside  very  carefully,  he  again  seated  himself  on  his  little 
bedstead,  which  was  merely  a  few  boards,  and  gazed  again 
sleepily  at  the  fire.  Presently,  however,  he  looked  up, 
and  became  aware  of  me.  He  gave  me  a  friendly  look, 
as  if  in  salutation,  and  said  u  Cafe!"  but  I  did  not  know 
whether  he  invited  me  to  take  coffee  with  him,  or  asked 
for  some  from  me.  The  cat  and  the  chicken  seemed  to 
smell  breakfast,  and  began  to  move,  and  as  I  supposed 
that  the  breakfast  hour  might  be  at  hand  and  the  break- 
fast over  the  fire,  I  bade  the  old  man,  the  cat,  and  the 
chicken  "Buon  dios  !  Retornero  /"  and  leaving  them  to 
understand  that  as  they  might,  I  proceeded  onward  around 
the  little  plantation. 

I  found  in  the  banana  grove  two  little  brushwood  cot- 
tages, in  each  of  which  there  dwelt  a  large  pig,  which 
was  just  now  enjoying  its  breakfast  of  large  banana  leaves. 
Swine  are  the  principal  wealth  of  the  negro  husbandman, 
and  even  of  the  plantation-slaves.  They  are  fattened  with- 
out difficulty  on  banana  leaves  and  the  fruits  of  the  earth, 
and  are  sold  when  fat  for  about  fifteen  dollars  each.  Be- 
yond the  fruit  tree  and  swine  grove  lay  a  field  in  which 
maize  and  some  kind  of  root  were  cultivated,  but  very  in- 
differently. A  negro  man  and  woman  were  here  at  work, 
but  the  work  was  evidently  ad  libitum.  We  greeted  one 
another,  and  made  an  attempt  to  converse,  but  it  ended 
in  laughter.  They  burst  into  peals  of  laughter  at  my 
words  and  at  my  want  of  understanding,  and  I  laughed 
at  their  capital  hearty  laughter,  really  tropical,  luxuriant 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  319 

laughter.     It  cheers  the  very  soul  to  see  negroes  chatter- 
ing and  laughing. 

This  little  homestead,  which  seemed  to  be  about  two 
acres,  was  inclosed  with  a  fence,  in  part  paling,  in  part  a 
stone  wall,  and  in  part  a  quick  hedge.  After  I  had  seen 
all  there  was  to  see,  had  laughed  and  shaken  hands  with 
the  negroes,  I  returned  to  the  sugar  plantation  to  break- 
fast. 

I  learned  from  Mr.  C.  that  the  tall,  palm -like  trees, 
which  were  hung  with  bunches  of  fruit  resembling  small 
cocoa-nuts,  are  called  papaya,  and  those  which  bear  white 
fruits  caimetos  ;  that  the  old  negro  whom  I  visited  is 
named  Pedro ;  that  he  was  born  of  a  free  mother,  and  has 
always  been  known  as  a  remarkably  good  and  honest 
man.  He  himself  built  his  house  and  planted  the  trees 
on  the  little  plot  of  ground,  which  he  rented  from  the 
church  for  five  pesos  yearly.  The  village  of  Limonar  was, 
as  I  imagined,  principally  built  and  inhabited  by  negro 
slaves  who  have  purchased  their  own  freedom,  and  who 
rent  land  in  the  village;  many,  however,  he  said,  were 
not  as  creditable  as  old  Pedro;  many  were  lazy,  and  main- 
tained themselves  rather  by  stealing  sugar-cane,  fruit,  &c, 
than  by  producing  it. 

At  my  request  Mrs.  C.  accompanied  me  one  afternoon 
on  another  visit  to  the  negroes  at  Limonar,  to  act  as  in- 
terpreter in  my  conversation  with  them.  This  lady  is  as 
quiet  and  gentle  in  her  demeanor  as  her  husband  is  act- 
ive and  vivacious ;  she  is  musical,  and  has  a  voice  which 
is  real  music  to  hear,  in  particular  when  she  speaks  the 
beautiful  Spanish  tongue.  We  visited  various  negro  houses, 
most  of  which  were  inferior  in  all  respects  to  that  of  Pe- 
dro. The  negroes  hold  their  plots  of  ground  by  the  ten- 
ure of  a  small  yearly  payment,  or  by  yielding  up  a  por- 
tion of  the  produce  to  some  Spanish  Creole.  I  asked  them 
if  they  wished  to  return  to  Africa ;  to  which  they  replied, 
laughing,  "No;  they  were  very  well  off  here!"     Most  of 


320  HOMES  Of  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

them  had,  nevertheless,  been  stolen  from  Africa  after  they 
had  passed  the  years  of  childhood.  We  met  with  one 
woman  whose  arm  had  been  injured,  and  on  Mrs.  C.  ask- 
ing her  the  cause  of  this,  she  related  in  Spanish,  with  ani- 
mated gestures,  the  story  of  cruel  treatment  which  she, 
the  defenseless  slave,  had  received  at  the  hands  of  her 
master  or  his  agent.  Lastly,  we  went  to  old  Pedro's.  I 
had  furnished  myself  with  some  coffee  for  him,  and  with 
some  Spanish  phrases  for  the  people  who  had  charge  of 
him — the  man  and  woman  whom  I  had  seen  in  the  field. 
They  were  now  in  the  cottage,  and  old  Pedro  was  sitting 
there,  just  as  before. 

The  man's  right  arm  had  been  crushed  in  the  sugar- 
mill,  which  had  obliged  it  to  be  amputated  above  the  el- 
bow, after  which  he  purchased  his  freedom  for  two  hund- 
red pesos ;  and  the  woman  had  also  purchased  her  freedom 
for  the  same  sum,  if  I  remember  correctly.  I  asked  them 
whether  they  would  like  to  return  to  Africa.  They  an- 
swered, with  a  merry  laugh,  "  No ;  what  should  they  do 
there  ?  They  were  very  happy  here  !"  They  were  thor- 
oughly contented  and  happy.  I  besought  them  to  be  kind 
to  old  Pedro,  and  Grod  would  recompense  them  !  Again 
they  laughed  loudly,  and  replied,  "  Yes  !  yes !"  Never 
before  had  I  discovered  how  amusing  I  could  be. 

It  had  become  dark  while  we  were  standing  in  the  cot- 
tage under  the  cocoa  and  papaya  trees  ;  and  the  stars 
came  forth,  gleaming  softly  from  the  deep  blue  sky.  We 
saw  from  the  place  where  we  stood,  and  which  was  con- 
siderably elevated  ground,  the  red  fires  shining  from  the 
furnaces  of  Mr.  C.'s  sugar-mill,  and  heard  the  wild  songs 
and  shouts  which  proceeded  thence.  There  was  slave- 
labor  ;  life  without  rest ;  the  dominion  of  the  whip ;  the 
glowing  furnace  of  slavery  ;  here  freedom,  peace,  and  rest 
beneath  this  beautiful  tropical  heaven,  in  the  bosom  of  its 
affluent  fruit-garden.     The  contrast  was  striking. 

Cuba  is  at  once  the  hell  and  the  paradise  of  the  ne- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  321 

groes.  The  slave  has  severer  labor  on  the  plantation,  but 
a  better  future,  a  better  prospect  of  freedom  and  happi- 
ness than  the  slave  of  the  United  States.  The  slave 
standing  by  the  hot  furnace  of  the  sugar-mill  can  look  to 
those  heights  where  the  palm-trees  are  saving,  and  think 
to  himself — "  I  too  can  take  my  rest  beneath  them  one 
of  these  days !" 

And  when  he  does  so,  when  he  lives  like  old  Pedro,  or 
the  man  with  only  one  arm  and  his  wife,  who  can  be 
happier  than  he  ?  The  sun  gives  him  clothing,  the  earth 
yields  him,  with  the  least  possible  labor,  abundant  fare, 
the  trees  drop  for  him  their  beautiful  fruits,  and  give  him 
their  leaves  to  roof  his  dwelling  and  to  feed  his  creatures ; 
each  day,  as  it  passes,  is  beautiful  and  free  from  care — 
each  day,  as  it  passes,  affords  him  its  enjoyment — sun, 
rest,  fruits,  existence  in  an  atmosphere  which,  merely  to 
breathe,  is  happiness ;  the  negro  desires  nothing  more. 
And  when  in  the  evening  or  the  night  he  sees  the  red 
fires  shining  from  the  sugar-mill,  and  hears  the  cracking 
of  the  whip,  and  the  shouts  which  resound  thence,  he  can 
raise  his  eyes  to  the  mild  stars  which  glance  through  the 
palm-trees  above  his  head,  and  bless  the  Lord  of  Heaven, 
who  has  prepared  for  the  slave  a  way  from  captivity  to 
paradise,  even  on  earth.  For  he  too  was  there  by  the 
blazing  furnace,  and  beneath  the  lash  of  the  driver,  and 
now  he  is  here  in  freedom  and  peace  beneath  his  own 
palm-tree ;  and  his  heavily-laden  brother  may  ere  long  be 
the  same!  What  matters  it  to  him  that  his  arm  was 
crushed  ;  his  heart  is  as  sound  as  ever  !  He  is  free  and 
happy,  and  none  can  take  from  him  his  freedom.  The 
negro,  under  the  dominion  of  the  Spaniard,  is  possessed  of 
a  hope,  and  can  lift  up  a  song  of  thanksgiving  which  he 
can  not  do  under  the  free  Eagle  of  the  American  Union. 

To-day  is  Sunday,  and  Mr.  C.  has  done  me  the1  favor  of 
allowing  me  to  see  the  negroes  of  the  plantation  dance  for 
an  hour  in  the  forenoon.     In  an  ordinary  way,  they  nev- 

0  2 


322  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

er  dance  during  the  dry  season,  la  Secca  ;  they  are,  how- 
ever, very  glad  to  do  it,  if  they  can  only  get  the  opportu- 
nity, spite  of  their  laborious  work  both  night  and  day.  I 
already  hear  the  African  drum  beating  its  peculiar,  dis- 
tinct, and  lively  measures,  and  after  the  baptism  of  a  little 
negro  child  the  dancing  is  to  begin. 

I  enjoy  myself  very  much  with  the  kind  family  here,  in 
which  there  seems  to  prevail  a  great  deal  of  mutual  affec- 
tion, and  somewhat  of  that  cheerfulness  which  existed 
among  us  when  we  were  so  large  a  family  altogether  at 
home.  Here  are  four  sons  and  three  daughters,  who  play 
and  quarrel  playfully  one  with  another  at  all  hours  of  the 
day,  and  the  youngest,  a  pretty  lad,  is  so  childishly  full 
of  fun  that  he  befools  me  to  play  with  him. 

In  the  morning  and  the  evening  I  go  out  on  my  soli- 
tary rambles  in  the  neighborhood,  generally  accompanied 
by  three  large  blood-hounds,  which  I  can  not  get  rid  of, 
but  which  are  gentle  as  lambs,  and  lie  down  perfectly 
quiet  around  me  whenever  I  sit  down  to  sketch  a  tree  or 
any  remarkable  object  which  takes  my  fancy  ;  and  it  is 
perhaps  as  well  for  me  that  I  have  them  with  me,  be- 
cause there  are  said  to  be  runaway  negro  slaves  roving 
about  on  the  island,  and  the  dogs  guard  me  from  any 
surprise  of  this  sort.  These  animals  are  so  trained  that, 
while  they  are  perfectly  gentle  toward  white  people,  they 
are  dangerous  to  the  blacks,  and  the  blacks  are  afraid  of 
them. 

I  have  here  sketched  two  remarkable  trees,  the  one  a 
beautiful  ceiba  in  perfect  health  and  magnificence,  and  a 
magnificent  tree  it  really  is  ;  the  other  a  ceiba  in  the  arms 
of  its  terrible  murderess  or  mistress,  or  both  in  one.  In 
this  tree  one  may  see  the  parasite  grasping  the  trunk  with 
two  gigantic  hands,  and,  as  it  were,  strangling  it  in  its 
embrace.*  I  have  here  also  greatly  enjoyed  the  balmy  air, 
and  the  wonderful  beauty  and  novelty  of  the  vegetation. 
There  are  some  beautiful  avenues — guadarajahs^  as  they 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  323 

are  called  in  Spanish — on  this  plantation,  one  of  king- 
palms,  another  of  mango-trees,  and  so  on.  In  the  even- 
ings we  have  music — for  the  whole  family  is  musical — 
and  sit  with  open  doors,  while  the  delicious  zephyrs  sport 
round  the  room. 

I  could  go  through  the  whole  process  of  sugar-making, 
from  its  very  commencement  to  its  close,  that  is  to  say, 
if  I  had  sugar-cane  and  a  sugar-mill.  The  process  is 
so  simple  and  so  agreeable  to  witness,  that  I  think  you 
will  not  be  displeased  to  see  it  here  on  paper  as  I  have 
seen  it  in  Mr.  C.'s  well-kept  sugar-mill.  "We  must  first, 
however,  see  the  cutting  of  the  sugar-cane. 

The  sugar-cane  is  waving  there  in  the  field  like  a  com- 
pact, tall  green  reed  ;  the  stems,  about  as  thick  as  a  stout 
walking-stick,  are  yellow,  some  with  flame-colored  stripes 
or  spots,  or  with  various  characteristics  of  the  cane,  such 
as  longer  or  shorter  distances  between  the  joints,  each 
according  to  its  species,  for  there  are  here  many  species 
of  sugar-cane,  as  the  Otaheitan-cane,  ribbon -cane,  and 
so  on. 

The  cane  is  cut  off  near  the  root  with  a  sharp  reaping- 
hook,  or  short,  crooked  scythe,  one  or  two  canes  at  a  time ; 
the  green  top  is  cut  off,  and  the  cane  cast  to  one  side. 
The  negroes  perform  this  operation  with  great  speed  and 
dexterity,  and,  as  it  seems,  con  amove.  It  is  said  that 
they  like  to  destroy,  and  I  could  almost  believe  that  it  was 
so ;  there  is  a  crashing  and  crackling  among  the  vigorous 
canes ;  it  is  cheerful  work,  and  those  black  figures,  with 
their  broad  chests  and  sinewy  arms,  look  well  so  employed. 
The  shorn  canes  are  loaded  upon  wagons  drawn  by  oxen 
and  conveyed  away  to  the  sugar-mill,  where,  as  soon  as 
it  reaches  the  open  door,  it  is  unloaded  by  women,  who 
throw  the  canes  into  a  broad,  raised,  long  trough,  which 
extends  into  the  building,  where  upon  an  elevation  are 
placed  two  broad  mill-stones,  turning  in  opposite  directions, 
the  one  raised  a  little  above  the  other.     By  the  side  of 


324  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

this  trough  stand  women,  who  pass  the  canes  onward  and 
up  to  the  grinding  mill-stones  (I  have  seen  a  couple  of 
young  women  at  work  here  who  really  were  splendidly 
beautiful,  with  their  dark  glancing  eyes,  their  white  teeth, 
their  coral  necklaces  round  their  throats,  and  the  pink 
handkerchiefs  bound  round  their  heads),  where  stands  a 
negro  on  a  landing-place,  who  is  called  the  feeder,  his 
business  being  to  see  that  all  the  canes  pass  regularly 
between  the  mill-stones.  The  juice  is  pressed  out  with 
every  half  revolution  of  the  stones,  and  the  canes  which 
enter  between  them  from  above  fall  down,  crushed  dry, 
into  another  trough  below,  whence  they  are  conveyed 
away  by  an  opposite  door,  and  then  heaped  up  into  an- 
other wagon  drawn  by  oxen,  which,  as  soon  as  it  is  load- 
ed, r^oves  off  and  gives  place  to  another.  This  wagon, 
loaded  with  la  bagaza,  goes  to  the  flagged  pavement, 
where  womon  unload  it  into  baskets,  and  lay  it  out  to  dry, 
as  we  have  already  seen.  On  one  side  of  the  building  in 
which  the  sugar-cane  is  ground  stands  a  house  containing 
the  machinery  which  sets  the  wheels  in  motion,  and  which 
is  worked  principally  by  oxen,  which  are  driven  as  the 
oxen  with  us  in  the  operation  of  thrashing.  There  is  a 
driver  to  each  pair  of  oxen,  and  it  is  from  these  that  the 
shouts  and  the  kind  of  stamping  sound  proceed  which  are 
heard  at  night.  A  negro  shouts  aloud  words  which  he 
invents  for  the  occasion,  and  which  are  often  entirely 
without  meaning,  and  the  others  respond  in  chorus,  re- 
peating with  some  variation  the  given  words.  The  shouts 
and  the  noises  are  unmelodious,  but  the  negroes  enliven 
themselves  in  this  manner  during  their  nocturnal  labor. 

The  juice  which  flows  from  the  crushed  canes  flows  be- 
tween the  mill-stones  into  a  porcelain  trough,  placed  in  a 
transverse  direction  to  the  great  trough  extending  between 
the  two  doors,  and  through  this  it  flows  into  a  porcelain 
tank,  where  it  is  purified ;  after  which  it  is  again  passed 
by  another  trough  into  the  boiling-house,  where  it  is  boil- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  325 

ed  and  skimmed  in  immense  boilers  or  pans,  fixed  in  the 
earth  by  masonry.  By  the  side  of  each  pan  stands  a  ne- 
gro, naked  to  the  waist,  who,  with  an  immense  ladle,  as 
tall  as  himself,  stirs  and  skims  the  boiling  juice.  The 
juice,  when  it  flows  from  the  cane,  is  a  thin  liquid,  of  a 
pale  green  color ;  it  is  now  boiled  in  the  pans  to  a  thick 
sirup  of  a  grayish  tint ;  and  this  process  being  complete, 
it  is  allowed  to  flow  into  large,  flat,  long  pans,  where  it  is 
left  to  harden;  after  which  it  is  broken  up,  packed  into 
hogsheads,  arid  sent  out  into  the  world. 

Sugar  is  in  no  instance  refined  in  Cuba ;  there  is,  there- 
fore, no  really  white  sugar  there.  The  boilers  are  heated 
by  furnaces,  the  mouths  of  which  are  in  the  walls,  and 
which  are  continually  fed  by  la  bagaza,  which,  when 
dried,  makes  excellent  fuel. 

And  this  is  the  history  of  the  sugar-cane  before  it  comes 
into  your  coffee-cup.*  Alas!  that  its  sweetness  can  not, 
as  yet,  be  obtained  without  much  bitterness,  and  that  hu- 
man enjoyment  costs  so  much  human  suffering  ;  for  I 
know  very  well  that  what  I  see  at  this  place  is  not  the 
darkest  side  of  sugar  cultivation.  There  is  a  far  darker, 
of  which  I  shall  not  now  speak. 

I  will  now  go  to  the  dance. 

After  the  dance.  There  stands  in  the  grass,  at  the  back 
of  the  house,  a  large  Otaheitan  almond -tree,  the  leafy  head 
of  which  casts  a  broad  shadow.  In  the  shade  of  this  tree 
were  assembled  between  forty  and  fifty  negroes,  men  and 
women,  all  in  clean  attire,  the  men  mostly  in  shirts  or 
blouses,  the  women  in  long,  plain  dresses.  I  here  saw 
representatives  of  the  various  African  nations  —  Congoes, 
Mandingoes,  Luccomees,  Caraballis,  and  others  dancing  in 
the  African  fashion.     Each  nation  has  some  variations  of 

*  It  is  planted  by  placing  the  cane  lengthwise  in  the  ground,  when  it 
shoots  up  from  the  joints.  The  flower  is  not  unlike  that  of  the  reed  with 
us,  and  consists  of  a  number  of  such  minute  florets  that  they  can  not  be 
discerned  by  the  naked  eye.  But  it  is  extremely  seldom  that  the  sugar- 
cane is  seen  here  to  flower.     Even  Mr.  C.  has  not  yet  seen  it. 


326  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

its  own,  but  the  principal  features  of  the  dance  are  in  all 
essentially  the  same.  The  dance  always  requires  a  man 
and  a  woman,  and  always  represents  a  series  of  courtship 
and  coquetry ;  during  which  the  lover  expresses  his  feel- 
ings, partly  by  tremor  in  all  his  joints,  so  that  he  seems 
ready  to  fall  to  pieces  as  he  turns  round  and  round  his 
fair  one,  like  the  planet  around  its  sun,  and  partly  by  won- 
derful leaps  and  evolutions,  often  enfolding  the  lady  with 
both  his  arms,  but  without  touching  her;  yet  still,  as  I  said, 
this  mode  varied  with  the  various  nations.  One  negro,  a 
Caraballis,  threw  one  arm  tenderly  round  the  neck  of  his 
little  lady  during  the  dance,  while  with  the  other  he  placed 
a  small  silver  coin  in  her  mouth.  And  the  black  driver, 
an  ugly  little  fellow  (he  under  whose  whip  I  saw  the  wom- 
en at  work),  availed  himself  frequently  of  his  rank,  some- 
times by  kissing,  during  the  dance,  the  prettiest  of  the 
girls  that  he  danced  with,  and  sometimes  by  interrupting 
the  dancing  of  another  man  with  a  handsome  young  ne- 
gro girl,  or  with  one  of  the  best  dancers,  and  then  taking 
his  place ;  for  it  is  the  custom  that  if  any  one  of  the  by- 
standers can  thrust  a  stick  or  a  hat  between  two  dancers, 
they  are  parted,  and  he  can  take  the  man's  place.  In 
this  manner  a  woman  will  sometimes  have  to  dance  with 
three  or  four  partners  without  leaving  her  place.  Wom- 
en, also,  may  exclude  each  other  from  the  dance,  general- 
ly by  throwing  a  handkerchief  between  the  dancers,  when 
they  take  the  place  of  the  other  who  retires,  such  inter- 
ruptions being  generally  taken  in  very  good  part,  the  one 
who  retires  smiling  and  seeming  well  pleased  to  rest  a  lit- 
tle, only  again  to  come  forward,  and  the  man  laughing 
still  more  heartily  to  see  himself  the  object  of  choice  with 
so  many.  The  dancing  of  the  women  always  expresses  a 
kind  of  bashfulness,  mingled  with  a  desire  to  charm,  while, 
with  downcast  eyes,  she  turns  herself  round  upon  one  spot 
with  an  air  and  grace  very  much  resembling  a  turkey- 
hen,  and  with  a  neckerchief  or  colored  handkerchief  in  her 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  327 

hand,  sometimes  one  in  each  hand,  she  half  drives  away 
from  her  the  advancing  lover  and  half  entices  him  to  her 
—  a  mode  of  dancing  which,  in  its  symbolic  intention, 
would  suit  all  nations  and  all  classes  of  people,  though — 
Heaven  be  praised — not  all  the  beloved.  The  spectators 
stood  in  a  ring  around  the  dancers,  one  or  two  couples  ac- 
companying the  dance  with  singing,  which  consisted  of 
the  lively  but  monotonous  repetition  of  a  few  words  which 
were  given  out  by  one  person  in  the  circle,  who  seemed  to 
be  a  sort  of  improvisator  e,  and  who  had  been  chosen  as 
leader  of  the  song.  Each  time  that  a  fresh  couple  enter- 
ed the  dance  they  were  greeted  by  shrill  cries,  and  the 
words  and  tune  of  the  song  were  changed ;  but  both  tune 
and  voices  were  devoid  of  melody.  It  is  difficult  to  im- 
agine that  these  voices  would  develop  that  beauty,  that 
incomparable,  melodious  purity,  and  this  people  that  mu- 
sical talent  which  they  have  attained  to  in  the  slave  states 
of  America.  The  wild  African  apple-tree  has,  when  trans- 
planted, into  American  soil,  ennobled  both  its  nature  and 
its  fruit.  The  words  of  the  singer  were,  I  was  told,  insig- 
nificant, nor  could  I  get  any  clew  to  their  purport. 

I  have  been  told  words  used  by  French  negro  Creoles 
in  their  dances,  which  in  their  patois  expressed  a  mean- 
ing which  it  seems  to  me  would  very  well  suit  the  negro 
dances  here  ;  they  say, 

Mai  a  tete,  .ce  n'est  pas  maladie, 
Mai  aux  dent,  ce  n'est  pas  maladie, 
Mais  l'amour,  c'est  maladie  ! 

The  dance  has  no  distinct  divisions,  no  development,  no 
distinct  termination,  but  appears  to  be  continuous  varia- 
tions of  one  and  the  same  theme  improvised,  according  to 
the  good-humor  or  inspiration  of  the  dancers,  but  com- 
prised within  a  very  circumscribed  sphere,  and  not  ad- 
vancing beyond  the  quiverings,  the  twirlings,  and  the  ev- 
olutions of  which  I  have  spoken.  If  either  man  or  wom- 
an wish  to  choose  a  partner,  they  go  out  of  the  circle  and 


328  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

place  their  handkerchief  on  the  shoulder  of  the  desired 
partner,  or  put  a  hat  upon  his  or  her  head,  or  an  orna- 
ment of  some  kind  upon  them ;  and  I  saw,  on  this  occa- 
sion, one  young  negro  woman  whirling  round  with  a  man's 
hat  on  her  head,  and  hung  all  over  with  handkerchiefs. 
It  is  also  a  common  custom,  but  not  of  the  most  refined 
kind,  to  place  a  small  silver  coin  in  the  mouth  of  the 
dancing  lady  at  the  close  of  the  dance.  The  music  con- 
sisted, besides  the  singing,  of  drums.  Three  drummers 
stood  beside  the  tree-trunk  beating  with  their  hands,  their 
fists,  their  thumbs,  and  drumsticks  upon  skin  stretched 
over  hollowed  tree-stems.  They  made  as  much  noise  as 
possible,  but  always  keeping  time  and  tune  most  correctly. 

It  was  a  very  warm  day,  and  I  saw  that  the  linen  of 
the  quivering  and  grimacing  gentlemen  was  in  a  state  as 
if  it  had  just  been  taken  out  of  the  sea.  Yet  not  the  less 
danced  they,  evidently  from  the  pleasure  of  their  hearts, 
and  seemed  as  if  they  would  continue  to  dance  to  eterni- 
ty ;  but  a  loud  crack  of  the  whip  was  heard  not  far  from 
the  dancing-ground,  and  immediately  the  dancing  ceased, 
and  the  dancers  hastened  away  obediently  to  labor.  Sug- 
ar-grinding and  boiling  must  again  begin. 

The  slaves  of  Cuba  have  no  holiday  during  la  Secca, 
although  on  Mr.  C.'s  plantation  labor  has  a  pause  for  two 
hours  on  Sunday  morning. 

How  much  more  lively  and  full  of  intelligence  was  this 
dance  under  the  almond-tree  than  the  greater  number  of 
our  dances  in  society,  at  least  if  we  except  the  waltz.  Our 
dances  have  not  enough  of  natural  life ;  this  dance  has 
perhaps  too  much ;  but  it  is  full  of  animation  and  straight- 
forwardness, and  has  this  good  quality  belonging  to  it, 
that  every  one  in  company  may  take  part  in  it,  either 
singing,  or  dancing,  or  applauding.  Nobody  is  excluded; 
there  is  no  need  for  any  body  to  stand  against  the  walls, 
for  any  body  to  be  dull  or  have  ennui.  Long  live  the 
African  dance ! 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  329 

I  have  made  an  interesting  excursion  with  the  family 
to  one  of  those  remarkable  grottoes  which  abound  in  the 
mountains  of  Cuba.     This  is  called  La  Loma  de  Lorenzo 
de  St.  Domingo,  and  is  distant  some  miles  from  Limonar. 
Mrs.  C.  and  I  drove  thither  in  their  volante,  the  young 
ones  riding  the  small  Cuban  horses,  the  most  good-tem- 
pered, willing,  and  prettiest  of  all  creatures  of  the  horse- 
kind,  and  which  carry  the  rider  so  lightly  that  he  feels 
no  fatigue:  these  horses  are  small;  their  action  is  a  short 
and   very   even  trot.     John  C,  a  cheerful,  spirited,  and 
very  agreeable  young  man,  ordered  a  couple  of  negroes  to 
carry  a   quantity  of  straw  and  brushwood  into  various 
parts  of  the  grotto,  which  was  set  fire  to.     This  produced 
a  splendid  scene.     Millions  of  terrified  bats  swarmed  in 
the  lofty  and  dark  arches  of  the  cavern ;  and  what  strange 
and  wonderful  shapes  were  revealed  by  the  flames !     It 
was  a  world  of  dreams,  in  which  every  form  fashioned  by 
nature,  and  of  which  the  human  heart  has  dreamed  or 
had  previsions,  seemed  to  present  itself  in  gloomy,  chaot- 
ic outline.     There  seemed  to  be  the  human  form  wrapped 
as  if  in  swaddling  bands,  awaiting  patiently  light  and 
life  ;  there  were  pulpits  and  thrones  ;  wings  which  seem- 
ed about  to  loosen  themselves  from  the  walls ;  thousands 
of  fantastic  shapes,  some   lonely,  some  grotesque,  some 
hideous.     Ah  !  within  these  caverns  of  nature  seem  to  be 
contained  the  whole  of  that  dark  world  which  the  cavern 
of  the  human  heart  incloses,  but  the  shapes  of  which  we 
do  not  see,  excepting  when,  in  dark  moments,  a  gloomy 
fire  lights  up  its  shadowy  recesses.     Every  form  which  I 
beheld  here  I  had  seen  long  beforehand  in — my  own  breast. 
And  I  know  that  they  all  exist  there  still,  although  God 
has  allowed  the  sun  to  enter,  and  palms  to  spring  up  in 
those  gloomy  spaces.     I  know  that  beyond  the  light  there 
still  exist  gloomy,  night-like  expanses  unknown  to  my- 
self, or,  at  all  events,  indistinctly  known,  and  which  will 
perhaps  remain  so  through  the  whole  of  my  earthly  life. 


330  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

But  then — life's  caverns  are  only  imperfectly  illumined 
on  earth ! 

The  most  definite  and  the  most  beautiful  formation  in 
these  grottoes  are  the  pillars.  A  drop  of  water  distilling 
from  the  roof  of  the  cavern  falls  upon  the  earth,  and  pet- 
rifies; from  these  petrified  water-drops  grows  up  a  conical 
elevation,  from  above  also  a  similar  cone  is  formed,  de- 
pending from  the  roof,  and  slowly  growing  from  petrify- 
ing water-drops ;  and  in  the  course  of  centuries  these  two 
have  met,  and  now  form  a  column  which  seems  to  sup- 
port the  roof,  and  not  unfrequently  resembles  a  petrified 
palm-tree.  Many  such  palm-trees  stood  in  the  vault  of 
the  grotto;  many  others  we're  in  process  of  formation.  The 
power  of  a  water-drop  is  great ! 

Monday  morning.  I  have  been  wandering  about  in  the 
inclosed  pasture-ground,  el  portrero,  contemplating  para- 
sitic growths  and  sketching  trees.  A  wood  in  Cuba  is  a 
combined  mass  of  tendriled  and  thorny  vegetation  which 
it  is  impossible  to  penetrate.  I  have  seen  in  the  inclosed 
pastures  some  beautiful  tall  trees,  but  many  more  de- 
formed, from  parasites  and  other  causes;  the  beautiful 
and  the  unsightly  stand  there  side  by  side.  I  saw  to-day 
also  a  beautiful  convolvulus,  with  large  white  flowers 
twining  itself  up  to  the  very  top  of  a  dead  tree,  overhung 
with  many  heavy  parasites.  There  are  many  kinds  of 
the  convolvulus  here,  which,  with  their  beautiful  flowers, 
constitute  the  principal  ornament  of  the  quick  hedge, 
which  they  bind  together  into  a  dense  mass  and  covex 
with  lovely  flowers.  There  are  many  species  of  wild  pas- 
sion-flower, some  very  large;  which  bear  fruit,  others  very 
small.  One  of  the  most  beautiful  trees  on  this  plantation 
is  the  pomme-rosa  tree;  it  is  just  now  in  flower,  and  its 
blossom  has  an  indescribably  delicious  fragrance. 

I  shall  shortly  leave  the  plantation  of  Ariadne,  but  shall 
return  both  from  my  own  wishes  and  those  of  the  family. 
I  am  anxious  to  leave  with  my  kind  entertainers,  as  a  re- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  .         33 1 

membranee  of  me,  a  portrait  of  the   youngest  boy,  my 
little  playmate. 

St.  Amelia  Inhegno,  March  15th. 

St.  Amelia  Inhegno  is  a  large  sugar  plantation,  and  I 
am  now  sitting  in  the  smoke  of  the  sugar-mill,  which  en- 
ters through  the  open  window  into  my  room  —  a  large, 
excellent  room,  with  a  regular  glass  window,  from  which 
I  obtain  a  fine  view  of  the  hills  of  Camerisca,  and  the 
palm-groves  and  plantations  at  their  feet.  I  have  every 
thing  here  which  I  can  wish  for,  only  too  much  of  the 
sugar  manufacture,  which  is  just  opposite  my  one  win- 
dow, and  which  is  on  a  much  larger  scale  than  on  the 
plantation  of  Ariadne.  Is  it  not  singular  that  the  word 
Inhegno,  which  here  signifies  an  inclosed  and  cultivated 
place,  and  which  is  always  used  to  indicate  a  plantation, 
so  much  resembles,  both  in  sound  and  meaning,  our  Swed- 
ish word  Inh'dgnad? 

My  hostess,  Mrs.  De  C,  is  an  agreeable  and  well-bred 
American  lady,  a  widow  with  four  children,  three  of  whom 
are  in  the  United  States,  and  only  one,  a  pretty  girl  of 
sixteen,  remaining  with  her  at  home.  She  lives  here  with 
her  father,  an  old  officer  of  cheerful  temperament,  although 
lame,  and  confined  for  the  most  part  to  his  arm-chair.  A 
young  American  Creole,  Mr.  W.,  whose  plantation  adjoins, 
is  a  daily  visitor  in  the  family,  and  a  most  agreeable  com- 
panion he  is.  He,  like  my  hostess,  is  possessed  of  the  gift 
of  gay  and  easy  conversation,  below  which  lies  a  founda- 
tion of  earnest  integrity.  Another  young  man  belongs  to 
the  social  circle  of  the  evening  and  the  dinner-table,  and 
he  is,  under  the  old  gentfeman,  overseer  of  the  plantation. 
This  young  man  is  of  great  value  to  me,  from  the  candor 
and  readiness  with  which  he  communicates  any  informa- 
tion which  I  may  desire  to  possess. 

This  plantation  is  much  larger  than  the  one  I  visited  in 
Limonar,  and  a  considerable  portion  of  the  slaves — two 
hundred  in  number — have  lately  been  brought  hither  from 


332  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Africa,  and  have  a  much  wilder  appearance  than  those  I 
saw  at  Ariadne.  They  are  worked  also  with  much  more 
severity,  because  here  they  are  allowed  only  four  and  a 
half  hours  out  of  the  four-and-twenty  for  rest;  that  is  to 
say,  for  their  meals  and  sleep,  and  that  during  six  or  seven 
months  of  the  year !  Through  the  remaining  portion  of 
the  twelve  months,  the  "dead  season,"  as  it  is  called,  the 
slaves  are  allowed  to  sleep  the  whole  night.  It  is  true, 
nevertheless,  that  even  now,  upon  this  plantation,  they 
have  one  night  a  week  for  sleep,  and  a  few  hours  in  the 
forenoon  of  each  alternate  Sunday  for  rest.  It  is  extra- 
ordinary how  any  human  beings  can  sustain  existence 
under  such  circumstances ;  and  yet  I  see  here  powerful 
negroes  who  have  been  on  the  plantations  for  twenty  or 
thirty  years.  When  the  negroes  have  once  become  accus- 
tomed to  the  labor  and  the  life  of  the  plantation,  it  seems 
to  agree  with  them  ;  but  during  the  first  years,  when  they 
are  brought  here  free  and  wild  from  Africa,  it  is  very  hard 
to  them,  and  many  seek  to  free  themselves  from  slavery 
by  suicide.  This  is  frequently  the  case  among  the  Luc- 
comees,  who  appear  to  be  among  the  noblest  tribes  of 
Africa,  and  it  is  not  long  since  eleven  Luccomees  were 
found  hanging  from  the  branches  of  a  guasima-tree — a 
tree  which  has  long,  horizontal  branches.  They  had  each 
one  bound  his  breakfast  in  a  girdle  around  him ;  for  the 
African  believes  that  such  as  die  here  immediately  arise 
again  to  new  life  in  their  native  land.  Many  female 
slaves,  therefore,  will  lay  upon  the  corpse  of  the  self-mur- 
dered the  kerchief,  or  the  head-gear,  which  she  most  ad- 
mires, in  the  belief  that  it  will  thus  be  conveyed  to  those 
who  are  dear  to  her  in  the  mother-country,  and  will  bear 
to  them  a  salutation  from  her.  The  corpse  of  a  suicide- 
slave  has  been  seen  covered  with  hundreds  of  such  tokens. 
I  am  told  here  that  nothing  but  severity  will  answer  in 
the  treatment  of  slaves  ;  that  they  always  must  know  that 
the  whip  is  over  them ;  that  they  are  an  ungrateful  peo- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  333 

pie ;  that  in  the  disturbances  of  1846  it  was  the  kindest 
masters  who  were  first  massacred  with  their  whole  fam- 
ilies, while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  severe  masters  were 
carried  off  by  their  slaves  into  the  woods,  there  to  be  con- 
cealed during  the  disturbances.  I  am  told  that,  in  order 
for  a  man  to  be  loved  by  his  slaves,  he  must  be  feared.  I 
do  not  believe  it ;  such  is  not  human  nature  ;  but  there  is 
a  difference  between  fear  and  fear.  There  is  one  fear 
which  does  not  exclude  love,  and  one  which  produces 
hatred  and  revolution. 

The  slaves  have  here,  in  a  general  way,  a  dark  and 
brooding  appearance.  They  go  to  their  work  in  the  sugar- 
fields  sleepy  and  weary.  As  they  drive  the  oxen  to  and 
fro,  I  frequently  see  them  sucking  sugar-cane,  which  they 
are  very  fond  of,  and  of  which  they  seem  allowed  here  to 
have  as  much  as  they  like.  This  is,  at  all  events,  a  re- 
freshment. They  are  not  fed  here  on  rice,  but  principally 
upon  a  species  of  root  called  malanga,  which,  it  is  said, 
they  like,  but  which  seemed  to  me  insipid.  It  is  yellow, 
and  something  like  the  potato,  but  has  a  poor  and  some- 
what bitter  taste  ;  each  slave  receives  a  portion  of  such 
root  boiled  for  dinner,  and  eats  it  with  his  salt  meat.  They 
have  for  breakfast  boiled  maize,  which  they  bruise  and 
mix  with  wild  tomatoes,  the  fruit  of  the  plantain,  or  vege- 
tables; for  they  are  allowed  a  little  land  on  the  plantation 
where  they  may  sow  and  reap  for  themselves,  and  besides 
this,  each  family  has  a  pig,  which  they  kill  yearly  and  sell. 

Sunday,  March  17.  It  is  the  Sabbath,  and  forenoon; 
but  the  sugar-mill  is  still  grinding,  and  the  whip-lash 
sounds  commanding  labor.  The  slaves  will  continue  to 
work  the  whole  day  as  if  it  were  a  week-day.  Next  Sun- 
day, they  say,  is  the  one  on  which  the  slaves  will  rest  for 
some  hours,  and  dance  if  they  are  inclined  ;  but — they 
look  so  worn  out! 

There  are  in  Cuba  plantations  where  the  slaves  work 
twenty-one  out  of  the  four-and-twenty  hours ;  plantations 


334  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 


where  there  are  only  men  who  are  driven  like  oxen  to 
work,  but  with  less  mercy  than  oxen.  The  planter  cal- 
culates that  he  is  a  gainer  by  so  driving  his  slaves,  that 
they  may  die  within  seven  years,  within  which  time  he 
again  supplies  his  plantation  with  fresh  slaves,  which  are 
brought  hither  from  Africa,  and  which  he  can  purchase 
for  two  hundred  dollars  a  head.  The  continuance  of  the 
slave-trade  in  Cuba  keeps  down  the  price  of  slaves.  I 
have  heard  of  "gangs"  of  male  slaves,  six  hundred  in  each 
gang,  who  are  treated  as  prisoners,  and  at  night  locked 
up  in  a  jail ;  but  this  is  on  the  plantations  in  the  south- 
ern part  of  the  island. 

It  is  amid  circumstances  such  as  these  that  one  may 
become  enamored  of  the  ideal  communities  of  socialism, 
and  when  men  such  as  Alcott  seem  like  the  saviors  and 
high-priests  of  the  earth.  How  beautiful  appear  to  me 
associated  brotherhoods  on  the  earth,  with  all  their  ex- 
travagance of  love,  when  compared  with  a  social  state  in 
which  human  powers  are  so  awfully  abused,  and  human 
rights  trampled  under  foot!  Here  I  feel  myself  more 
ardent  than  ever  for  those  social  doctrines  which  are  la- 
boring to  advance  themselves  in  the  free  states  of  Amer- 
ica ;  and  when  I  return  thither,  I  shall  endeavor  to  be- 
come better  acquainted  with  them  and  their  leaders,  and 
to  do  more  justice  to  both. 

Yet  even  here  I  have  derived  some  little  comfort  with 
regard  to  the  condition  of  the  slaves  on  this  plantation,  at 
least  from  the  visit  which  I  have  paid  to  their  bohea. 
This  is  a  large,  square,  but  low  fortress-like  wall,  in  which 
the  slaves  live  as  at  Ariadne  plantation,  and  in  which  they 
are  secured  by  bolts  and  bars  during  the  night.  I  have 
often  visited  them  here  during  meal-times,  and  have  al- 
ways felt  it  a  refreshment  to  witness  their  vigorous  life 
and  their  cheerfulness  ;  nevertheless,  I  have  seen  coun- 
tenances here  steeped  in  such  gloom,  that  not  all  the  trop- 
ical sunshine  would  illumine,  so  hopeless,  so  bitter,  so 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  335 

speechless  were  they — it  was  dreadful !  The  countenance 
of  one  young  woman,  in  particular,  I  shall  never  forget ! 

I  can  not  but  often  admire  the  Herculean  frames  among 
the  men,  the  energetic  countenances  in  which  a  savage 
power  seems  united  to  a  manly  good-heartedness,  which 
last  shows  itself  especially  in  their  treatment  of  the  chil- 
dren, and  by  the  very  manner  in  which  they  look  at  them. 
The  little  ones  are  not  here  familiar  and  merry  as  they 
are  on  the  plantations  in  America ;  they  do  not  stretch 
out  their  little  hands  for  a  friendly  salutation  ;  they  look 
at  the  white  man  with  suspicious  glances — -they  are  shy ; 
but  the  very  little  Bambinos,  which  are  quite  naked,  fat, 
and  plump,  as  shiny  as  black,  or  black-brown  silk,  dance 
upon  their  mother's  knees,  generally  with  a  blue  or  red 
string  of  beads  around  the  loins,  and  another  round  the 
neck ;  they  are  the  very  prettiest  little  things  one  ever 
saw;  and  the  mothers,  with  their  strings  of  beads  round 
their  necks,  their  showy  kerchiefs  fastened,  turban- wise, 
around  the  head,  look  very  well  too,  especially  when,  with 
delighted  glances,  and  shining,  pearly  teeth,  they  are 
laughing  and  dancing  with  their  fat  little  ones.  Such  a 
young  mother,  with  her  child  beneath  a  banana-tree,  is 
a  picture  worthy  the  pencil  of  a  good  painter. 

I  saw  in  those  dark  little  rooms — very  like  those  at 
Ariadne  plantation — more  than  one  slave  occupied  during 
the  short  time  allowed  him  for  rest  in  weaving  little  bask- 
ets and  hats  of  palm-leaves,  and  one  of  them  had  con- 
structed a  fine  head-dress  of  showy  patches  and  cock's 
feathers  ! 

In  other  respects  the  slaves  live  in  the  bohea  very  much 
like  cattle.  Men  and  women  live  together,  and  part  again 
according  to  fancy  or  whim.  If  a  couple,  after  having 
lived  together  for  some  time>  grow  weary  of  each  other, 
the  one  will  give  the  other  some  cause  of  displeasure,  and 
then  they  separate.  In  case  of  any  noisy  quarrel,  the 
majorat  is  at  hand  with  his  whip  to  establish  peace. 


336  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

"Are  there  here  no  couples  who  live  constantly  togeth- 
er as  in  proper  marriage;  no  men  and  women  who  love 
one  another  sufficiently  well  to  be  faithful  to  each  other 
as  husband  and  wife  ?"  inquired  I  from  my  young,  candid 
conductor. 

"Yes,"  replied  he,  "there  are  really  such  couples  who 
have  always  remained  together  since  they  have  been  upon 
this  plantation." 

"Lead  me  to  one  of  these  couples,"  said  I. 

It  was  just  dinner-time.  My  companion  led  me  to  one 
of  the  rooms  in  the  wall.  The  door  stood  open,  as  is  com- 
monly the  case,  to  admit  light  and  air.  The  man  was 
out ;  the  woman  sat  alone  in  the  room  ;  she  might  be 
about  fifty,  and  was  busy  at  some  work.  She  had  a  round 
face,  without  beauty,  but  with  a  good  and  peaceful  ex- 
pression. 

I  asked  her,  through  my  interpreter,  whether  she  was 
fond  of  her  husband  ? 

She  replied  cheerfully  and  without  hesitation,  "Yes; 
he  is  a  good  husband." 

I  inquired  whether  she  had  been  attached  to  him  in 
Africa  ? 

"  Yes,  in  Africa,"  she  replied. 

I  asked  how  long  she  had  been  united  to  her  husband 
— how  many  years? 

This  question  seemed  to  trouble  or  perplex  her ;  she 
smiled,  and  replied  at  length  that  she  had  had  him  always  ! 

Always!  She  did  not  know  how  vast  and  profound 
that  word  was  on  her  lips.  It  went  to  my  heart.  Weeks, 
months,  seasons,  years,  youth,  strength,  many  changes 
had  passed  by  unnoted,  unobserved ;  hemisphere  had  been 
changed  for  hemisphere,  freedom  for  slavery,  the  palm-tree 
hut  for  the  bohea,  a  life  of  liberty  for  a  life  of  labor — every 
thing  had  changed ;  but  one  thing  had  remained  steadfast, 
one  thing  had  remained  the  same — her  love — her  fidelity ! 
She  had  always  had  him,  the  husband  whom  she  loved— >- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  337 

he  had  always  had  her.  Of  that  which  was  variable  and 
evanescent  she  knew  not,  made  no  account — she  knew 
merely  of  time  as  regarded  that  which  was  eternal.  She 
had  had  her  husband  always;  she  should  have  him  al- 
ways. That  was  evidently  written  in  her  calm  counte- 
nance and  in  her  calm  voice.     It  could  not  be  otherwise. 

"Love  requires  to  be  sustained  by  duty!"  said  Greijer 
to  me,  on  one  occasion  when  he  spoke  of  marriage.  So  it 
does ;  but  it  is  beautiful  to  see  that  the  natural  marriage 
between  two  kindred  souls  can  remain  firm  and  strong 
merely  through  the  law  of  love,  amid  the  wild  license  of 
the  bohea,  and  that  in  the  case  of  two  black  people,  two 
of  the  wild  offspring  of  the  desert ! 

Poets  and  philosophers  have  spoken  of  souls  predestined 
for  each  other.  Here  I  found  two  such.  They  ha  1  al- 
io ays  belonged  to  each  other.  In  the  profound  conscious- 
ness of  Grod  they  had  belonged  to  each  other,  and  would 
belong  to  each  other  through  all  time  —  that  is,  in  — 
eternity. 

The  man  entered  while  I  was  still  in  the  room.  He 
seemed  to  be  about  the  same  age  as  the  woman,  and  had 
the  same  good-hearted  expression;  but  there  was  in  his 
smile  a  sort  of  imprisoned  sunshine,  a  cheerful  beam  of 
light,  which,  lit  up  from  the  heart  itself,  seemed  as  if  it 
would  gladly  have  free  diffusion.  I  have  often  observed 
this  imprisoned  beam  of  light  in  the  countenances  of  these 
children  of  bondage.  They  have  brought  it  with  them  as 
an  inheritance  from  their  mother-country. 

I  went  from  this  married  pair  to  the  prison  cell,  in 
which  the  slaves  are  placed  after  they  have  suffered  pun- 
ishment— women  as  well  as  men — and  while  the  mind 
is  still  in  a  state  of  fermentation,  after  having  endured 
bodily  suffering.  They  are  placed  here  in  irons,  made 
fast  to  a  wooden  frame,  and  here  they  sit,  bound  hands 
and  feet — women  as  well  as  men — till  their  minds  are 
again  calm  and  their  wounds  healed,  so  that  they  can 

Voi.   II— P 


338  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

again  go  to  their  work.  They  are  said  to  get  fat  while 
they  remain  here  !  The  room  was  now  empty,  and  in- 
habited merely  by  swarms  of  fleas. 

I  only  wonder  that  suicide  is  not  of  more  frequent  oc- 
currence among  this  people.  How  strong  and  tenacious 
the  instinct  of  life  must  be  ! 

The  sugar-mill  here  affords,  in  its  way,  an  interesting 
and  picturesque  scene.  The  athletic  figures  of  those  half- 
naked  Africans  who  stand  by  the  furnaces,  or  by  the  boil- 
ing sugar-pans,  in  those  large,  gloomy  buildings,  or  who 
move  about  occupied  in  various  ways,  produce  a  singular 
effect.  I  can  not  behold  without  amazement  and  pleasure 
the  savage  but  calm  majesty  of  their  bearing  and  move- 
ment, as  well  as  the  dark  energy  of  their  countenances. 
Sculptors  ought  to  see  and  model  from  these  African  chests 
and  shoulders.  They  seem  made  to  sustain  Atlas.  And 
though  the  Atlas  of  slavery  presses  heavily  upon  them, 
they  are  still  strong — terribly  strong,  if  the  hour  of  venge- 
ance should  ever  come  ;  now  they  are  silent  and  gloomy. 
The  Spanish  majorals,  in  their  white  shirts  and  with 
their  whips,  or  short,  thin,  square  staves  in  their  hands, 
stand  or  sit  here  and  there  on  elevated  platforms  with- 
in the  building,  to  overlook  the  work,  and  in  the  morn- 
ing take  the  while  their  coffee  and  white  bread.  They 
seem  to  me,  as  far  as  form  and  appearance  goes,  to  be 
much  smaller  and  more  insignificant  than  many  of  the 
black  slaves.  In  the  slave  states  of  America  no  idea  can 
be  formed  of  the  peculiar  beauty  of  form  of  the  African 
negro,  especially  those  of  certain  tribes.  The  native  slaves 
there  are  a  weaker  and  gentler  race.  The  wild  raven  has 
been  tamed. 

Many  of  the  slaves,  also,  who  are  brought  to  Cuba  have 
been  princes  and  chiefs  of  their  tribes,  and  such  of  their 
race  as  have  accompanied  them  into  slavery  on  the  plan- 
tations always  show  them  respect  and  obedience.  A  very 
young  man,  a  prince  of  the  Luccomees,  with  several  of 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  339 

his  nation,  was  taken  to  a  plantation  on  which,  from  some 
cause  or  other,  he  was  condemned  to  be  flogged,  and  the 
others,  as  is  customary  in  such  cases,  to  witness  the  pun- 
ishment. When  the  young  prince  laid  himself  down  on 
the  ground  to  receive  the  lashes,  his  attendants  did  the 
same  likewise,  requesting  to  he  allowed  to  share  his  pun- 
ishment. This  affecting  instance  of  loyalty  produced 
merely  the  coarse  assurance  "  that  they  should  not  fail 
of  their  full  share  of  the  whip  when  opportunity  offered  !" 

This  occurrence  did  not  take  place  on  this  plantation. 

There  is  more  use  made  of  machinery  in  this  sugar-mill 
than  in  that  at  Ariadne.  Instead  of  fixed  troughs  by 
which  the  sugar-cane  is  conveyed  by  human  hands  to  and 
from  the  mill-stones,  there  are  here  carriages  to  convey 
the  cane  worked  by  machinery,  and  which  run  on  many 
wheels  in  a  long  row,  one  after  the  other,  from  one  door 
of  the  sugar-mill  to  the  other,  and  it  is  merely  at  the  en- 
trance-gate that  the  cane  is  loaded  by  human  hands. 

And  now  you  must  have  had  enough  of  sugar-cane ; 
but,  before  I  leave  the  bohea,  I  must  say  a  few  words 
about  the  government  of  its  population.  This  rests,  after 
the  master,  upon  an  overseer,  who  is  called  the  majorat, 
and  below  him  is  a  contra-majoral,  who  sometimes  is  a 
negro.  On  large  plantations,  such  as  this,  there  are  many 
white  under-majorals.  The  condition  of  the  slaves,  and 
the  prevailing  state  of  feeling  among  them  on  a  planta- 
tion, depends  very  much  upon  the  ability,  prudence,  and 
humanity  of  the  majorals.  The  savage  murder  of  a  ma- 
joral  in  Cuba  not  unfrequently  bears  witness  to  the  des- 
potism of  their  proceedings,  and  to  the  state  of  frenzied 
excitement  into  which  cruel  oppression  may  bring  the  nat- 
urally gentle  and  easily  subjected  negro-race. 

However  oppressive  slavery  may  be  to  the  inhabitants 
of  the  bohea,  and  though  the  planters  quite  naively  ignore 
most  of  the  Spanish  laws  for  the  emancipation  of  the  slave, 
and  though  the  justice  of  the  law  is  also  here  nullified  at 


340  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

pleasure,  still  the  wafting  breezes  of  the  life  of  freedom 
can  not  be  wholly  excluded  from  the  bohea.  The  slave 
knows,  generally,  that  he  can  purchase  his  own  freedom, 
and  he  knows  also  the  means  for  the  acquisition  of  money. 
The  lottery  is,  in  Cuba,  one  of  the  principal  means  for  this 
purpose  among  the  negro  slaves,  and  they  understand  how 
to  calculate  their  chances  wisely.  For  instance,  several 
individuals  of  a  certain  nation  will  unite  for  the  purchase 
of  a  quantity  of  tickets,  the  numbers  of  which  follow  in 
close  succession.  Out  of  a  total  of  consecutive  numbers, 
one  or  two  will  commonly  draw  a  prize,  which,  according 
to  agreement,  belongs  to  the  nation,  and  is  divided  among 
all  the  members.  In  this  way  I  have  heard  that  the  Luc- 
comee  nation  lately  obtained  at  Havana  a  prize  of  eleven 
thousand  dollars,  a  portion  of  which,  it  is  said,  has  been 
applied  to  purchase  the  freedom  of  slaves  of  their  nation ; 
and,  if  I  mistake  not,  a  Luccomee  negro  on  this  planta- 
tion has  lately,  with  the  consent  of  his  owner,  purchased 
his  own  freedom  for  two  or  three  hundred  dollars.  Yes — 
some  become  free,  but  many,  many  never  become  so ! 

As  far  as  concerns  myself,  my  life  here  is  as  free  and 
agreeable  as  I  can  desire.  Mrs.  De  C.  is  a  very  charming 
and  amiable  person  to  associate  with,  and  she  allows  me 
to  have  all  the  liberty  I  wish,  and  is  infinitely  agreeable 
to  me.  In  the  early  mornings  I  go  out  alone;  visit  the 
slaves'  bohea,  or  ramble  about  the  plantation ;  I  enjoy  the 
air,  and  sketch  trees  and  flowers.  I  have  now  become  ac- 
quainted with  that  candelabra-like  plant,  which  I  have  al- 
ready mentioned.  It  is  the  flower-stalk  of  a  plant  of  the 
aloe  genus,  called  Peta,  a  shrub  with  stiff,  thorny  leaves, 
and  this  flower-stalk  shoots  up  from  the  root  every  third 
year,  and  bears  upon  its  branches  bunches  of  yellowish 
flowers  which  produce  fruit.  It  shoots  up  to  a  height  of 
five  or  six  ells,  blossoms,  and  bears  fruit  all  within  the 
space  of  two  months,  after  which  it  dies  down.  It  has  a 
singular  but  very  ornamental  appearance ;  I  have  made  a 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  34 1 

drawing  of  it.  Here,  also,  are  a  couple  of  remarkable 
ceiba-trees,  the  one  on  account  of  its  beauty,  the  other 
for  its  deformity — its  tragical  combat  with  the  parasite. 
The  sugar-cane  fields  are  inclosed  with  lofty,  untrimmed 
hedges,  in  which  grow  wild  orange  and  various  tropical 
trees. 

During  the  hottest  part  of  the  forenoon  I  sit  quietly  in 
my  own  light,  excellent  chamber,  writing  and  drawing. 
Just  before  dinner  I  go  out,  look  around  me  in  the  bohea, 
or  seat  myself  under  a  mango-tree  on  a  cross-road  to  catch 
a  few  breezes,  if  I  can,  in  its  shade.  In  the  afternoon  I 
generally  drive  out  with  Mrs.  De  C.  in  her  volante,  her 
daughter  and  Mr.  W.  accompanying  us  on  horseback.  To 
be  rocked  over  the  country  in  an  open  volante,  in  that 
heavenly,  delicious  air,  is  the  most  soothing,  delightful 
enjoyment  that  any  body  can  conceive. 

The  family  assembles  in  the  evening,  and  I  then  play 
American  marches,  "  quick-steps,"  and  other  lively  pieces, 
with  Yankee  Doodle  for  the  old  gentleman,  who,  with 
these,  recalls  his  youthful  achievements,  and  feels  new  life 
in  his  stiffened  limbs.  At  a  later  hour  I  go  out  on  the 
piazza  to  see  the  stars  shining  in  the  darkness  of  night, 
and  to  inhale  the  zephyrs  which,  though  not  so  full  of 
life  as  at  Matanzas,  are  yet  always  full  of  delicious  in- 
fluence. 

Among  my  pleasures,  I  must  not  forget  the  lovely  hum- 
ming-birds in  the  little  garden.  In  the  mornings,  and 
directly  after  mid-day,  one  may  be  sure  to  see  them  hov- 
ering around  the  flowers,  and  around  the  red  ones  by 
preference.  There  are  in  the  garden  a  couple  of  shrubs, 
which  are  now  covered  with  most  splendid  red  flowers  ; 
the  shrub  is  called  La  Coquette,  and  over  these  the  little 
humming-birds  are  always  hovering,  they  too  of  a  splen- 
did red,  like  little  flames  of  fire.  They  are  the  most  gor- 
geous little  creatures  any  body  can  imagine,  as  fat  as  little 
bull-finches,  and  like  them,  having  plump,  brilliant  breasts. 


342  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

They  support  themselves  as  if  in  the  air,  fluttering  their 
wings  for  a  considerable  time  about  the  red  flowers,  into 
which  they  then  dip  their  bills,  but  how  gracefully  I  can 
not  describe.  La  Coquette  and  her  winged  wooers  pre- 
sent the  most  lovely  spectacle.  I  have  here  seen  three 
kinds  of  humming-birds.  The  one  with  the  crimson  color- 
ing of  morning,  of  which  I  have  just  spoken ;  a  little  one 
of  a  smaragdus-green  and  more  delicate  form ;  and  a  third, 
green,  with  a  crest  of  yellow  rays  on  its  head.  They  will 
sometimes  all  alight  upon  a  bough,  and  as  they  fly  away 
again,  a  soft,  low  twittering  may  be  heard.  They  are 
quarrelsome,  and  pursue  one  another  like  little  arrows 
through  the  air,  while,  as  rivals,  they  approach  the  same 
flower. 

Besides  these  most  lovely  little  birds,  I  see  here  a  black 
bird  about  as  large  as  a  jackdaw.  It  resembles  the  Amer- 
ican blackbirds,  and  is  called  majitos  or  solibios  (or  soli- 
vios,  for  here  there  is  a  great  confusion  between  "v"  and 
"b,"  and  "b"  and  "v;"  thus  Havana  is  frequently  both 
written  and  pronounced  Habana).  I  see  these  blackbirds 
often  sitting  upon  the  branches  of  the  candelabra-like 
peta.  These' queer  birds  are  said  to  be  a  species  of  com- 
munists, to  live  in  communities,  to  lay  their  eggs  together, 
to  hatch  them  in  common,  and  to  feed  the  young  in  the 
same  manner,  without  any  difference  of  mine  or  thine. 
The  humming-bird  is  evidently  of  a  very  different  temper- 
ament, and  is  a  violent  anti-communist. 

The  heat  is  now  becoming  excessive,  and  I  feel  it  so 
enervating  that  I  think  I  shall  leave  Cuba  on  the  8th  of 
April  instead  of  the  28th,  as  I  had  intended.  From  Cuba 
I  shall  proceed  to  Charleston  and  Savannah,  visit  two 
plantations  on  the  coast  of  Greorgia,  and  so  on  to  Virginia — 
the  Old  Dominion — which  I  must  see,  and  where  I  shall 
probably  spend  the  month  of  May;  thence  to  Philadelphia 
and  New  York — to  my  dear  home  at  Rose  Cottage;  then 
to  the  White  Mountains  in  New  Hampshire,  pay  a  visit  to 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  343 

Maine  and  Vermont,  and  thence,  in  the  month  of  July,  to 
my  first  beautiful  home  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson ;  then 
to  England,  and  then — home  ! 

I  am  now  going  for  a  few  days  to  Cardenas,  a  little  city 
on  the  sea-coast ;  but  I  shall  return  hither.  The  kind 
Mrs.  De  C.  will  lend  me  her  volante. 


LETTER    XXXI Y. 

Cardenas,  March  19th. 

It  was  at  Cardenas  that  the  first  senseless  robber-expe- 
dition against  Cuba,  under  the  conduct  of  Lopez,  landed 
last  year,  and  was  repulsed  by  the  bravery  of  the  Spanish 
army.  You  are  shown  holes  in  the  walls  made  by  can- 
non-balls, and  they  are  now  living  in  daily  expectation 
and  fear  of  a  new  attack  under  the  same  leader,  the  news 
of  which  is  just  now  in  circulation,  and  people  are  on  the 
alert  in  consequence,  and  the  city  under  watch. 

Cardenas  is  a  small  city,  built  in  the  same  style  as 
Havana,  and  carries  on  a  brisk  trade  in  sugar  and  treacle. 
It  is  situated  by  the  sea,  but  lies  so  low  that  it  can  scarcely 
be  seen  from  the  sea ;  its  harbor  is  very  shallow,  and  will 
not  admit  vessels  of  large  size.  I  am  living  in  a  small 
hotel  kept  by  a  Mrs.  W.,  the  widow  of  a  Portuguese,  and 
who  has  five  daughters,  which  is  nearly  four  too  many ! 
I  should  not  be  afraid  of  having  ten  daughters  in  the 
United  States  ;  I  should  be  certain  that  they  all,  however 
poor  they  might  be,  would  be  able  to  attain  to  their  prop- 
er human  development,  would  gain  consideration  and  a 
competence  through  their  own  merits  and  endeavors.  But 
in  Cuba,  what  could  any  one  do  with  five  daughters? 
Marriage  is  the  only  means  there  of  obtaining  for  them 
respect  and  a  living,  and  it  is  not  so  very  easy  to  get 
married  at  Cuba,  because  it  is  not  an  easy  thing  to  main- 
tain yourself  in  an  honorable  way  there.     Two  of  these 


344  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

young  girls  are  very  pretty ;  the  eldest,  a  perfect  blonde, 
has  the  noblest  profile.  She  is  betrothed  to  a  young  of- 
ficer; but  it  frequently  happens  that  marriage  does  not 
follow  love  and  betrothal. 

Among  the  people  who  interest  me  here  is  a  young 
lawyer,  a  Spaniard,  more  than  ordinarily  agreeable  and 
lively  in  social  intercourse.  I  have  obtained  a  good  deal 
of  information  from  him  respecting  the  administration  of 
the  laws  of  the  island  with  regard  to  slaves  and  their 
treatment,  of  which  I  shall  have  more  to  say  another 
time.  In  other  respects  Cardenas  appears  to  me  an  un- 
interesting little  city ;  but  kind  people  here  have  afforded 
me  an  opportunity  of  seeing  things  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  city  which  have  great  interest  for  me,  one  of  which 
is  a  coffee  plantation  in  full  bloom.  The  coffee-plant 
flowers  once  a  month,  and  the  whole  of  the  plantation  is 
in  blossom  on  one  single  day,  and  the  flowers,  which  are 
in  full  bloom  in  the  morning,  wither  in  the  evening.  The 
earliest  blossoming  in  the  year  is  in  February,  the  latest 
in  November.  The  flowers,  which  are  placed  upon  the 
twig  in  compact  white  racemes  and  bunches,  produce 
small  fruit-pods,  which  are  first  green,  then  red,  and  last- 
ly of  a  dark  brown,  when  they  are  gathered  ;  these  con- 
tain the  coffee-beans.  The  harvest  is,  therefore,  contin- 
ually going  on  during  three  or  four  months  of  the  year. 

The  coffee  plantation  which  I  visited  was  in  full  bloom, 
and  the  appearance  was  as  of  a  shower  of  snow  over  the 
green  shrubs.  The  coffee-shrub  has  beautiful  rich  green, 
smooth  laurel-like  leaves;  the  flowers  resemble  those  of 
the  single  white  hyacinth,  and  have  a  delicate,  agreea- 
ble scent.  This  coffee  plantation  was  remarkably  lovely, 
with  beautiful  avenues  of  alternate  orange-trees  and  sago- 
palms  ;  the  pine-apple  grew  there,  and  there  were  avenues 
and  groves  of  bananas.  The  trees  were  full  of  blossoms 
and  fruit.  The  people  who  lived  here  had  never  noticed 
the  peculiar  blossoming  of  the  banana  ;  people  live  amid 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  345 

the  richest  treasures  of  nature  without  paying  attention 
to  them. 

Among  the  beautiful  objects  on  this  plantation,  I  must 
mention  its  proprietor,  and  her  lovely  young  daughters 
especially.  They  presented  me  with  flowers  and  fruit, 
and  I  have  sketched  a  blossoming  branch  of  the  coffee- 
shrub  for  mamma. 

The  second  object  of  interest  to  me  was  a  little  zoo- 
logical garden,  or  museum,  which  a  German  collected  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Cardenas,  of  the  birds  and  other  an- 
imals of  Cuba.  Among  the  latter  were  a  crocodile  and 
an  alligator  together  in  the  same  tank.  They  were  so 
alike,  that  to  my  ignorant  eyes  they  seemed  entirely  so ; 
but  I  was  shown  various  distinctive  markings.  Their 
owner  had  made  vain  attempts  to  tame  them.  They 
seem  to  be  the  most  devoid  of  intellect,  as  well  as  the 
ugliest  of  all  animals,  at  least  to  my  taste.  Neither  alli- 
gators nor  crocodiles,  however,  are  found  in  the  rivers  of 
Cuba ;  these  have  been  brought  hither  as  curiosities  from 
America  and  Africa. 

March  21st.  There  stands  in  the  court  into  which  my 
room  looks  a  large  hen-coop,  containing  many  kinds  of 
poultry  for  household  use.  The  present  cook  of  the  fam- 
ily, a  tall,  handsome  Spanish  soldier,  came  this  morning 
to  fetch  away  a  couple  of  the  feathered  company  for  din- 
ner, for  the  family  and  guests.  The  first  that  he  carried 
off  was  a  large  black  turkey ;  and  I  could" not  but  admire 
the  manner  in  which  he  set  about  the  business,  it  was 
so  gentle,  so  humane,  and  wise.  He  stroked  the  turkey, 
in  the  first  place,  before  he  took  it  from  the  pen,  and 
even  this  was  done  with  so  much  suavity  that  the  tur- 
key, when  he  carried  him  off  quite  comfortably  across  the 
court,  merely  looked  a  little  astonished,  and  uttered  a  few 
sounds  in  his  throat,  as  if  he  would  say,  "  Now  what's 
going  to  be  done?" 

I  have  seen  with  us,  when  a  hen  was  to  be  killed,  the 
P2 


346  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

whole  poultry-yard  in  a  state  of  uproar,  and  she  herself 
breathless  from  terror  before  she  gave  up  the  ghost.  Span- 
iards are  not  in  a  general  way  remarkable  for  humanity 
to  animals;  and  the  country  people  frequently  come  to 
market  with  turkeys  and  fowls  hanging  by  the  feet  tied 
together  across  the  horse's  saddle,  so  that  their  heads  hang 
down.  This  barbarity  was  forbidden  by  a  Governor  Ta- 
con  of  Cuba,  who  is  described  as  having  been  a  severe 
man,  but  who  abolished  many  abuses;  this,  however,  is 
still  continued,  and  I  have  frequently  met  monteros  rid- 
ing between  clusters  of  poultry  thus  suspended,  and  some- 
times half  dead. 

There  is  a  district  not  far  from  Cardenas  which  is  call- 
ed Havanavana,  which  is  almost  entirely  peopled  by  free 
negroes,  the  number  of  whom,  I  understand,  amounts  to 
twelve  or  thirteen  hundred.  They  are  mostly  cultivators 
of  land,  on  the  half  system,  with  Spanish  Creoles.  I 
should  be  extremely  glad  to  see  how  these  small  farms 
are  managed  by  them — to  see  with  my  own  eyes  how 
negroes  manage  when  they  are  left  to  themselves;  but  I 
am  advised  not  to  go  there,  as  I  am  not  acquainted  with 
the  language  of  the  country,  and  the  government  is  very 
suspicious  of  strangers.  The  slave  disturbances  of  1846 
are  still  fresh  in  the  minds  of  people,  and  they  originated 
in  this  part  of  the  island.  These  disturbances,  which  gave 
rise  to  such  cruel  proceedings  on  the  part  of  the  Spanish 
government,  have  also  caused  severe  restrictions  to  be  laid 
upon  the  occupations  and  amusements  of  the  free  negroes. 
Formerly,  it  is  said,  might  be  heard  every  evening  and 
night,  both  afar  and  near,  the  joyous  sound  of  the  African 
drum,  as  it  was  beaten  at  the  negro  dances.  When,  how- 
ever, it  was  discovered  that  these  dancing  assemblies  had 
been  made  use  of  for  the  organization  of  the  disturbances 
which  afterward  took  place,  their  liberty  became  very 
much  circumscribed. 

The  free  negroes  of  Havana  have,  each  nation  to  itself, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  347 

their  own  halls  of  assembly  and  guilds,  or,  as  they  are 
called,  cabildos,  for  which  they  elect  queens,  wrho  again 
choose  kings  to  assist  them.  I  must  &ee  these  Cabildos 
de  Negroes. 

St.  Amelia  Inhegno,  March  23d. 

Once  more  in  my  excellent  room,  with  my  charming 
Mrs.  De  C,  for  a  couple  of  days.  I  came  hither  in  a 
whirling  cloud  of  hot,  red  dust.  The  soil  of  Cuba  is  as 
red  as  burned  clay,  and  the  dust  is  dreadful  in  windy 
weather.  In  rainy  weather,  again,  it  becomes  a  thick 
slime,  which  it  is  impossible  to  get  through.  This  be- 
longs to  the  obverse  side  of  nature  here.  The  volante, 
drawn  by  three  horses  abreast,  flew  like  a  whirlwind 
through  the  red  dust,  and  our  calashero,  Patricio,  seemed 
greatly  to  enjoy  the  wild  career. 

It  is  again  Sunday,  that  Sunday  upon  which  the  slaves 
are  to  have  a  few  leisure  hours,  and  I  have  talked  to  botji 
the  old  gentleman  and  the  young  one  about  it,  and  prayed 
that  the  slaves  might  have  a  dance ;  but  we  shall  see  how 
it  will  be.  The  sugar-mill  is  not  at  work,  but  I  see  the 
slaves  going  about,  carrying  la  bag-aza,  and  I  hear  the 
cracking  of  the  whip  keeping  them  to  work.  It  is  already 
late  in  the  afternoon;  I  am  waiting  in  expectation  and 
impatience.  Will  there  be  a  dance  or  no?  I  fear  that 
some  pretext  will  be  found  for  changing  the  dance  into 
labor.  I  confess  that  I  shall  be  very  much  annoyed  if  it 
is  so,  for  the  dance  has  been  promised  me,  and  the  poor 
people  need  enlivening;  neither  should  1  allow  them  to 
dance  to  no  purpose.  There — the  African  drum!  There 
will  be  a  dance.     I  hasten  to  witness  it. 

Later.  The  dance  did  not  this  time  take  place  under  a 
shady  almond-tree,  but  in  the  hot  court  of  the  bohea. 
The  musicians  were  stationed  with  their  drums  on  the 
shady  side  of  the  kitchen.  There  was  merely  a  small 
company  of  dancers,  and  the  dance  was  of  the  same  kind 
as  that  at  Ariadne,  and  presented  no  new  feature  of  in- 


348  liOxMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

terest,  until  an  elderly  Congo  negro,  called  Carlo  Congo, 
entered  with  his  Herculean  chest  into  the  dance.  He  or- 
dered the  drummers  to  heat  a  new  tune,  and  to  this  he 
performed  a  dance,  which,  with  its  bendings,  its  evolu- 
tions, and  tremulosities,  would  have  told  well  in  a  ballet 
of  the  Paris  opera ;  that  is  to  say,  in  the  person  of  a  satyr 
or  faun,  for  the  dance  had  no  higher  character ;  but  it 
was  admirable,  from  the  power  of  the  dancer,  his  agili- 
ty, flexibility,  bold  transitions,  and  the  wild,  picturesque 
beauty  of  his  evolutions.  This  was  the  Congo  dance  ; 
but  Carlo  Congo  could  not  execute  it  in  its  full  perfection ; 
wearied  for  four  months'  labor,  day  and  night,  his  limbs 
were  evidently  deficient  in  the  needful  power;  he  was 
obliged  to  pause  many  times  to  rest,  and,  though  he  soon 
recommenced,  he  again  came  to  a  stand,  shaking  his  head 
good-humoredly,  as  if  he  would  say,  "  No  !  it  will  not 
do  !"  His  countenance  had  that  expression  of  power  and 
sensibility  which  I  have  so  often  seen  among  the  negroes  ; 
he  wore  a  little  cotton  cap  on  his  head,  and  a  necklace  of 
blue  glass  beads  round  his  throat ;  the  upper  portion  of 
the  body  and  the  muscular  arms  were  bare  ;  and  their 
form,  and  the  development  of  the  muscles,  during  the 
dance,  were  worthy  the  study  of  a  sculptor.  The  partner 
of  this  skillful  dance  was  also  more  animated  in  her  move- 
ments than  any  of  the  negro  women  whom  I  had  yet 
seen,  and  swung  round  with  great  dexterity  and  art. 
Carlo  placed  a  little  sprig  of  myrtle  in  her  mouth,  after 
which  she  danced,  holding  it  between  her  lips  as  a  bird 
would  have  held  it  in  his  bill. 

By  degrees  the  dancers  increased  in  number.  The 
women  also  invited  partners  to  dance,  generally  by  giving 
a  little  blow  with  a  handkerchief  to  the  selected  cavalier, 
who  immediately  showed  himself  ready  and  willing.  Some 
of  the  men  dropped  on  the  knee  during  the  dance  ;  so  true 
to  nature  does  this  movement  appear  to  be,  which  of  old 
obtained  admission  into  the  refined  world  of  gallantry  and 
chivalry, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  349 

There  were  others  who  danced  solo  to  the  beating  of 
the  drums,  twirling  round  upon  one  spot,  and  waving  the 
while  up  and  down  with  the  body  ;  children  also  came, 
naked  as  (rod  made  them,  and  imitated,  most  excellently, 
the  dancing  of  the  elders.  But  others,  both  men  and 
women,  passed  by,  and  cast  gloomy,  joyless  glances  on  the 
dance  ;  and  the  bitter  expression  of  those  dark,  night-like 
countenances  testified  of  the  darkest  night-life  of  slavery ; 
countenances  those  were  which  I  shall  never  forget — one 
especially,  that  of  an  elderly  woman  !  Other  negroes 
were  passing  through  the  gate  of  the  bohea,  laden  with 
bunches  of  bananas  and  tomatoes  (which  here  grow  wild), 
or  other  green  vegetables.  The  young  overseer  inquired 
whether  they  were  from  their  own  country,  and  they  re- 
plied curtly,  "  Yes."  They  passed  by  the  dancers,  some 
with  an  indifferent  glance,  others  with  a  half  smile.  The 
dancing  in  the  mean  time  became  more  and  more  animated 
in  that  hot  sun,  and  the  numbers  increased,  both  of  men 
and  women.  Now,  however,  the  loud  crack  of  a  whip  was 
heard,  and  the  dancing  stopped  at  once.  The  dancers 
dispersed  again  to  recommence  work  in  the  sugar-mill. 
I  too  left  the  bohea,  but  not  without  thanking  the  drum- 
mers, and,  in  particular,  Carlo  Congo,  in  the  manner 
which  I  knew  was  most  agreeable  to  them. 

I  am  now  again  in  my  quiet  chamber.  The  sugar-mill 
is  clamoring  and  smoking,  and  the  slaves  are  carrying  la 
bagaza. 

I  see  above  the  walls  of  the  bohea,  but  far  beyond  them, 
the  magnificent  guadarajah  of  palms  below  the  hills  of 
Camerioca.  These  hills  also  have  deep  caverns  and  con- 
cealed tracts,  which  serve  as  the  retreats  of  fugitive  slaves. 
They  dig  pitfalls  at  the  mouths  of  the  caverns  to  preserve 
them  from  their  pursuers.  But  the  pursuit  of  them  is 
now  given  up,  as  it  is  not  only  unavailing,  but  attended 
by  great  peril  to  the  pursuers.  Sometimes  they  will  come 
down  in  the  night-time  to  the  plantations  for  sustenance, 


350  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

which  they  obtain  from  the  negroes  of  the  plantation,  who 
never  betray  the  fugitives  of  the  mountains.  The  negroes, 
it  is  said,  never  betray  one  another  except  under  the  tor- 
ture of  the  whip. 

March  26th.  I  have  visited  with  my  kind  hostess  some 
of  the  plantations  in  the  neighborhood.  The  most  agree- 
able of  these  visits  was  to  that  of  a  handsome  young 
couple,  M.  and  Madame  Belle  C,  French  Creoles.  An 
enchanting  expression  of  human  kindness  was  portrayed 
on  their  countenances.  They  are  said  to  be  very  kind  to 
their  slaves,  and  I  understand  that  M.  Belle  C.  is  think- 
ing of  taking  a  sugar  plantation  in  Florida,  on  which  he 
will  employ  only  free  negroes.  May  he  succeed !  One 
single  successful  experiment  of  this  kind  would  effect  a 
great  change  in  American  slavery.  The  man  who  does 
this  may  be  reckoned  as  among  the  greatest  benefactors 
of  humanity. 

I  saw  at  M.  and  Madame  Belle  C.'s  two  of  the  sweet- 
est little  children,  and  a  well-kept  garden,  in  which  were 
many  beautiful  plants.  I  saw  some  remarkably  fine  Pro- 
vence roses,  but  without  any  sign  of  fragrance.  The 
great  heat,  it  is  said,  destroys  the  scent  of  this  and  many 
other  flowers.  This  handsome  young  couple  have  invited 
me  to  spend  some  time  with  them,  but  I  must  decline  the 
invitation. 

The  planters  of  Cuba  are  extremely  hospitable,  and  as 
the  life  of  the  ladies  is  very  monotonous,  and  increasingly 
so  of  late,  for  the  hand  of  the  Spanish  government  has 
rested  heavily  on  the  Spanish  Creole  since  the  late  dis- 
turbances, compelling  him  to  pay  a  tax,  they  are  by  no 
means  unwilling  to  have  the  monotony  of  their  every-day 
life  diversified  by  the  presence  of  a  European  stranger. 

The  character  of  the  sugar  plantation  and  the  life  upon 
it  seems  to  me  very  much  the  same  every  where.  The 
most  beautiful  features  of  these  plantations  are  the  great 
avenues,  especially  of  palms ;  I  can  not  walk  through 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  35 1 

these  guadarajahs  without  a  sentiment  of  devotion,  so 
beautiful  and  magnificent  are  they  !  The  gardens  are 
frequently  quite  small,  and  commonly  but  ill  kept.  The 
fields  of  sugar-cane  encroach  upon  every  thing  else.  The 
life  of  the  ladies  is  not  cheerful,  and  scarcely  active  at 
all.  They  seem  to  me  to  suffer  from  the  condition  of  the 
plantation,  which  is  never  free  from  danger,  and  which 
does  not  allow  them  to  develop  at  all  their  more  beauti- 
ful activity — nay,  which  even  checks  their  movements. 
They  dare  not  go  out  alone — they  are  afraid  of  runaway 
slaves ;  besides,  with  all  the  beauty  of  trees  and  vegeta- 
tion peculiar  to  the  Cuban  plantation,  it  still  lacks  that 
which  constitutes  one  of  the  greatest  delights  of  country 
life — when  one  looks  at  it  merely  from  the  pleasurable 
point  of  view — it  lacks  grass-sward — that  soft,  submis- 
sive, verdant  sward,  in  which  millions  of  small  blades  of 
grass  and  masses  of  little  flowers  are  brought  together,  to 
prepare  for  human  beings  a  fresh  and  soft  couch  on  which 
to  repose  in  the  open  air.  It  lacks  those  groves  of  shad- 
owy trees  and  underwood,  beneath  and  amid  which  we 
repose  so  pleasantly;  and  I  soon  observed  that  this  para- 
disaical atmosphere  and  these  guadarajahs  could  not  com- 
pensate to  the  inhabitants  of  the  island  for  the  absence 
of  those  unpretending  rural  pleasures. 

Besides,  we  behold  no  injustice  around  us  in  the  coun- 
try, no  want  which  we  can  not  in  some  degree  lessen. 
They  behold  much  daily  which  they  can  not  do  any  thing 
to  alleviate.  Nay,  the  more  noble  a  woman  is  in  Cuba, 
the  more  unhappy  must  she  become.  And  even  if  she  be 
united  to  the  best  of  husbands,  who  does  all  that  lies  in 
his  power  for  her  and  for  his  slaves,  she  still  can  not  close 
her  eyes  to  that  which  occurs  around  her.  The  planta- 
tion is  never  many  acres  in  extent,  and  it  adjoins  other 
plantations  which  are  managed  according  to  the  disposi- 
tion of  their  masters,  and  of  what  kind  this  sometimes  is 
we  know  already.     Add  to  this  the  state  of  the  govern- 


352  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

ment  of  the  island,  the  violence  of  government  officials, 
slave-trade,  slave  tumults,  the  examinations  of  the  Span- 
ish government,  and  the  punishments  which  it  inflicts, 
one  perpetual  state  of  fear — no  delicious  waftings  of  the 
heavenly  atmosphere  of  Cuba  can  give  cheerfulness  to  life 
under  such  circumstances. 

Last  week  a  cargo  of  slaves  from  Africa  arrived  at  Ha- 
vana ;  they  were  no  less  than  seven  hundred  in  number, 
and  all  children,  the  eldest  not  eighteen,  and  the  youngest 
under  ten  years  of  age.  It  was  spoken  of  this  evening  in 
our  circle. 

"  They  who  do  this,"  said  a  mother  of  the  party,  bitterly, 
"ought  to  have  some  day  the  reward  they  deserve !" 

And  yet,  if  human  beings  are  to  be  conveyed  from  their 
native  country  into  foreign  slavery,  it  is  better  that  it 
should  take  place  when  they  are  children  than  when 
grown  up  ;  it  is  less  bitter  then.  As  children,  they  be- 
come accustomed  to  the  bohea  and  to  the  whip,  and  have 
not  the  memory  of  a  life  of  freedom,  which  drives  them 
to  despair  and  suicide. 

Amid  these  gloomy  thoughts  and  impressions,  again  and 
again  the  unspeakable  beauty  of  the  air  and  the  vegeta- 
tion presents  itself,  and  affects  my  soul  to  thanksgiving, 
and  shows  me  a  future  paradise. 

It  is  again  full  moon,  and  the  nights  are  indescribably 
beautiful.  I  returned  home  late  last  night  from  a  visit 
with  my  hostess.  We  drove,  with  uncovered  heads,  in 
the  open  volante,  through  palm-groves,  beneath  the  vault 
of  heaven,  which  was  flooded  with  light.  The  air  was 
delicious  and  bland,  as  the  purest  human  kindness. 

There  are  two  splendid  palm  avenues  at  the  plantation 
of  St.  Amelia,  a  hundred  trees  in  a  row,  I  have  no  doubt. 
Many  of  them  are  just  now  in  bloom.  The  luxuriant 
sprays  of  flowers  shoot  out  like  a  garland  of  wings  around 
the  stem,  a  little  below  the  palm-crown,  in  the  most  beau- 
tiful relationship  both  to  it  and  the  stem.     There  is  an- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  353 

other  avenue  of  the  tamarind  (from  the  green  heads  of 
which  the  beans  are  now  falling,  and  which  the  little  ne- 
gro children  eagerly  gather,  to  suck  the  agreeable  acid 
fruit),  and  of  mango-trees,  and  a  species  of  acacia,  with 
red  berries,  from  which  the  negroes  make  necklaces.  There 
are,  in  front  of  the  house,  many  of  those  trees,' with  lime- 
tree-like  heads,  and  dark,  fiery-red  flowers,  such  as  I  saw 
on  La  Plaza  des  Armas  at  Havana,  the  botanic  name  of 
which  is  Hibiscus  tiliacea. 

Cuba  is  an  outer  court  of  Paradise,  worthy  to  be  stud- 
ied by  the  natural  historian,  the  painter,  and  the  poet. 
The  forms  and  colors  of  the  vegetation  seem  to  typify  a 
transition  from  earthly  life  to  a  freer  and  a  loftier  sphere 
of  beauty. 

Caffetal  L'Industrie,  April  1st. 

Thank  Grod  that  it  is  now  the  commencement  of  spring 
in  Sweden,  and  that  you  can  now  begin  to  think  about 
salt  baths,  summer,  and  convalescence,  and  that  all  around 
you  can  begin  to  live ;  way-side  weeds,  butterflies,  the 
little  yellow  flowers,  and  larks — the  cheerful  larks,  which 
warble  and  sing,  "  Now  it  is  spring-time !  now  it  is  spring- 
time !"  Ah !  the  diffusive  joy  which  spring  imparts  among 
us,  that — that  is  not  known  in  this  beautiful  Cuba. 

But — Cuba  has  beauty  enough  to  make  human  life 
happy,  if  its  beauty  and  its  glorious  atmosphere  might 
only  operate  unimpededly. 

I  have  now  been  for  some  days  on  a  new  plantation, 
both  of  sugar  and  coffee,  with  an  American  family  of  the 
name  of  P.,  consisting  of  an  elderly  gentleman,  his  wife, 
much  younger  than  himself,  two  young  sons,  and  two 
daughters.  T  have  to  thank  the  Swedish  consul,  Mr. 
Ninninger,  for  this  invitation.  Mr.  P.  is  a  warm  repub- 
lican, and  courageous  enough  openly  to  express  his  re- 
publican sympathies  in  the  very  face  of  the  Spanish  au- 
thorities of  the  island.  He  would  do  it,  he  says,  "  at  the 
mouth  of  a  four-and -twenty  pounder,"  and  I  believe  him, 


354  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

the  brave  old  gentleman,  and  I  like  him  for  it !  Mrs.  P. 
was  born  in  England,  and  now,  at  near  fifty,  her  counte- 
nance has  still  all  the  charm  and  sweetness  of  youth, 
combined  with  an  expression  of  the  greatest  kindness. 
She  reminds  me  of  those  springs  of  fresh  water  which 
God  permits  here  and  there  to  well  up  in  the  sandy  des- 
erts of  the  tropics  for  the  invigoration  of  the  desert  pil- 
grim. Palm-trees  grow  around  them,  and  the  sward  be- 
comes verdant ;  the  wanderer  rests  there,  and  drinks  of 
the  springs,  and  wishes  only  that  he  could  linger  there. 
When  I  meet  with  one  of  these  characters  of  perfectly 
original  goodness,  I  involuntarily  ask  myself  why,  when 
such  might  be  created  and  given  to  the  earth,  we  yet  see 
so  few  of  them.  As  it  is,  they  seem  like  the  spirit  of  the 
wind  on  this  island,  merely  to  reveal  themselves  on  the 
earth,  to  remind  us  of  a  paradise  which — is  not  to  be 
found  there. 

There  is  a  glorious  view  from  the  front  of  the  house, 
across  the  country,  and  to  the  distant  blue  sea.  I  enjoy  it, 
and  the  breezes  from  the  sea,  as  I  walk  upon  the  broad 
piazza  in  the  incomparably  beautiful  mornings  and  even- 
ings. My  charming  little  room  adjoins  the  piazza,  and 
from  it  also  I  have  an  extensive  view  ;  there,  however,  I 
am  often  disturbed  by  the  little  negro  children,  who  climb 
up  by  the  iron  railing  before  my  window,  and  peep  in, 
exclaiming  "  Buon  dios,  Signora,"  good-morning,  missis ! 
which,  spite  of  their  good-tempered,  joyous  countenances, 
splendid  eyes  and  teeth,  does  not  always  amuse  me,  that 
is,  when  I  wish  to  be  quiet.  But  it  is,  after  all,  really  a 
joy  to  see  how  fearless  the  negro  children  are  on  this  plan- 
tation. The  good,  motherly  lady  and  her  daughters  have 
produced  this  effect,  and  the  children  are  evidently  well 
cared  for,  and  the  elder  ones  well  clad.  They  run  about 
freely,  and  accompany  us  on  our  walks,  sometimes  in  lit- 
tle troops.  I  frequently  see  the  elder  children  carrying 
the  younger  ones,  riding  astride  upon  the  left  hip,  while 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  355 

they  hold  them  up  with  the  left  arm  thrown  round  the 
bead-encircled  bodies  of  the  little  creatures.  I  see  them 
in  this  way  move  about,  and  even  run,  with  great  ease ; 
the  girls  are  particularly  dexterous  in  this  respect,  and  as 
I  thus  see  them,  I  frequently  can  not  help  admiring  their 
beautiful  and  perfectly  developed  frames. 

The  slaves  on  this  plantation  seem  to  me  well  fed  and 
full  of  enjoyment.  Neither  is  their  bohea  locked  up  and 
prison-like ;  it  is  left  freely  open,  and  I  have  seen  dwell- 
ing-rooms there  full  of  possessions  like  the  dwellings  of 
the  slaves  in  America.  The  good  lady  of  the  plantation 
is  fond  of  her  people,  and  takes  good  care  of  the  feeble 
and  the  sick. 

From  her  gentle  lips  I  have  written  down  the  following 
words  : 

"  It  is  a  great  sin  to  call  the  slaves  wicked ;  there  are 
among  them  both  bad  and  good,  as  among  all  people.  It 
is  rare  to  meet  with  such  as  are  wicked,  and  many  are 
very  good  ! 

"  They  who  consider  the  whip  necessary  to  drive  the 
negroes  to  work,  which  they  would  do  willingly  with  rea- 
sonable treatment,  do  not  understand  them,  and  frequent- 
ly make  them  wicked.  I  can  not  tell  you  what  I  have 
suffered  ;  nay,  indeed,  I  have  been  ill  for  weeks  from  the 
grief  occasioned  by  the  sight  of  so  much  flogging,  and  of 
the  many  cruelties,  which,  in  many  cases,  a  kind  and  se- 
rious word  might  have  prevented  the  necessity  of!  The 
negro  nation  is  wonderfully  susceptible  to  kindness  and 
indulgence  when  they  are  judiciously  used.  They  are 
capable  of  becoming  the  best  and  the  most  devoted  of 
servants  and  friends." 

The  German  overseer  of  a  plantation,  La  Sonona,  be- 
longing also  to  Mr.  P.,  made  the  following  remarks  re- 
garding negro  slaves: 

u  They  are  not  at  all  difficult  to  manage,  if  they  are 
treated,  at  the  same  time,  with  firmness  and  kindness 


356  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

They  love  regularity  and  decision  in  their  masters,  and 
obey  without  difficulty  when  they  are  treated  with  equa- 
nimity and  reason.  It  will  not  do  to  be  remiss;  neither 
is  there  any  necessity  for  severity  and  cruelty." 

This  I  believe  to  be  the  truth ;  and  well  would  it  be  if 
many  gentlemen  would  believe  so  too,  and  then  treat 
them  according  to  this  belief;  but  a  despotic  temper  and 
passion  are  often  the  masters'  master,  and  the  slaves  suf- 
fer in  consequence. 

The  most  remarkable  occurrence  that  has  happened  to 
me  since  I  last  wrote  is  my  having  seen  the  Southern 
Cross,  and  the  Cuculio,  or  "the  Cuban  fire-fly,"  which 
now  begins  to  make  its  appearance,  but  which  is  not  a  fly, 
but  a  beetle,  which  in  form  and  appearance  resembles  our 
Thor-beetle,  only  somewhat  longer  and  narrower.  It  flies 
in  the  same  manner,  but  more  slowly  and  much  higher, 
and  produces  during  its  flight  a  still  louder  and  more 
buzzing  sound.  It  emits  light  in  two  ways,  when  it 
creeps  along,  or  is  still,  from  two  round,  small  shining 
points  immediately  behind  the  eyes,  and  I  read  by  the 
light  thus  produced  with  great  ease  last  evening,  by  con- 
ducting the  cuculio  along  the  lines  like  a  little  lamp ;  and, 
secondly,  when  it  flies,  it  emits  from  an  opening  in  the 
stomach  a  strong  clear  light,  now  quickly  shining  out, 
and  then  extinguished,  as  is  the  case  with  the  American 
fire-fly,  but  shining  steadily  as  long  as  it  remains  on  the 
wing :  you  can  scarcely  conceive  how  beautiful  it  is.  Im- 
agine now  the  planets  Venus,  Jupiter,  Mars,  and  others 
as  bright,  coming  down  from  above,  and  flying  around 
through  the  air,  over  the  roof,  and  among  the  trees  and 
bushes,  and  you  behold  the  cuculio :  it  has  the  loveliest, 
clear  blue  fire  which  you  can  imagine. 

Fire-flies  make  their  appearance  at  the  commencement 
of  the  rainy  season,  and  as  we  have  now  had  a  couple  of 
small  showers,  to  the  great  joy  of  the  coffee-planters,  the 
cuculios  show  themselves  as  soon  as  it  begins  to  grow 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  357 

dark.  They  are  not,  however,  numerous  as  yet ;  but  I 
am  told  that  when  the  rainy  season  sets  in,  in  May,  June, 
and  July,  they  become  so  numerous  that  the  heads  of 
large  trees  are  sometimes  entirely  covered  with  them,  and 
gleam  out  as  from  millions  of  little  tapers.  It  is  not  known 
here  how  and  whence  they  come;  it  is  maintained  that 
during  the  dry  season  they  conceal  themselves  in  decayed 
trees ;  they  now  feed  on  sugar-cane,  and  I  have  a  whole 
party  in  a  glass  in  my  room,  where  they  suck  pieces  of 
sugar-cane.  They  seem  to  be  very  well  off  there,  and 
think  more  about  eating,  apparently,  than  freedom ;  they 
sit  quite  still  and  suck  the  cane,  and  their  light  seems 
dimmed  the  while;  but  if  I  oblige  them  with  a  bath  of 
fresh  water,  it  becomes  bright  again,  and  the  whole  creat- 
ure more  lively.  Sometimes,  when  I  wake  in  the  night, 
I  hear  a  buzzing  noise  in  my  room,  and  see  one  or  two 
cuculios  flying  about,  and  lighting  up  every  part  of  the 
room  which  they  approach. 

I  have  to-day  drawn  a  couple  of  them  in  my  album. 
I  have  here  a  perfect  phrensy,  sketching  and  drawing 
people,  birds,  trees,  flowers,  dwellings,  every  thing  which 
strikes  me ;  and  so  much  strikes  me  here,  from  its  beauty 
or  its  novelty,  that  I  am  in  a  continual  drawing  fever. 
Many  of  my  efforts  are  not  wholly  successful,  both  from 
want  of  time  and  artistic  skill;  but  I  shall  carry  home 
with  me  some  small  memories  which  it  will  be  pleasant  to 
possess. 

I  see  in  the  evenings  the  Southern  Cross  slowly  rising 
in  a  slanting  direction  with  regard  to  the  horizon ;  at  mid- 
night it  stands  perpendicularly  above  it.  I  went  out  last 
night  to  see  it.  This  lovely  constellation  shone  bright  and 
beautiful  amid  the  tranquil,  beautiful  night.  The  stars 
are  of  the  second  magnitude ;  one  of  them,  however,  is  of 
the  third ;  but  the  proportion  between  them  is  so  perfect, 
that  the  whole  figure  is  striking  in  the  highest  degree  ; 
besides  which,  the  splendid  Cross  stands  solitary  in  the 


358  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

southern  heavens,  with  its  foot  almost  touching  the  earth, 
and  its  arms  extending  over  it.  The  whole  figure  pro- 
duces a  solemn  hut  melancholy  effect  upon  me.  A  glory- 
is  formed  ahove  the  Cross  hy  the  stars  of  Centaur,  and  the 
two  stars  Circinus  and  Rohur  stand  like  sentinels,  one  on 
either  side. 

After  midnight  the  Cross  declines  toward  the  right,  and 
thus  sinks,  hy  degrees,  once  more  heneath  the  orb  of  the 
earth.  The  nights  are  very  dark,  hut  the  darkness  is  as 
if  transparent;  the  air  is  not  felt.  There  could  not  he 
more  beautiful  nights  in  Paradise.  The  beauty  of  our 
midsummer  in  the  north  of  Sweden  might  emulate  it,  but 
in  another  way. 

"When  I  turn  from  the  Southern  Cross,  and  the  palm- 
trees  between  which  it  shines,  I  see  in  the  northern  firm- 
ament, above  a  beautiful  ceiba-tree  in  the  court,  the  North 
Star  and  the  Great  Bear. 

April  3d.  I  have  spent  this  beautiful  morning  in  the 
banana  groves,  which  are  always  to  be  met  with  on  coffee 
plantations,  sketching  the  tree,  with  my  favorite  fruit  and 
all  its  little  upspringing  family  around  its  stem.  I  found 
here  also  flowering  cotton-plants  in  a  considerably  wild 
state.  The  shrub  has  twisting,  irregular  stems,  coarse 
lobed  leaves  of  a  dark  dull  green  color.  The  flower  re- 
sembles a  double  mallow,  and  is  of  a  clear,  light  yellow 
color,  and  of  the  most  delicate  and  graceful  form.  The 
manner  in  which  the  capsule  opens,  and  throws  out  the 
bunches  of  cotton  in  which  the  seeds  are  imbedded,  is 
wonderfully  pretty.  I  must  now  paint  this,  as  well  as  the 
Southern  Cross  above  the  palm-trees. 

The  palm-trees !  I  never  grow  weary  of  contemplating 
the  waving  of  their  heads  in  the  wind,  and  the  soft  and 
majestic  inclination  of  the  branches.  They  are  full  of 
poetry  and  of  symbolic  beauty ;  they  speak  forcibly  of  the 
union  of  the  noble  in  thought  and  deed,  and  the  beautiful 
in  expression ;  wherever  I  turn,  they  meet  my  eye  with 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  359 

new  aspects  of  beauty.  The  palm-tree's  crown  has  gen- 
erally from  fourteen  to  sixteen  branches.  Every  month, 
or  every  alternate  month,  one  of  the  lower  branches  falls 
off.  I  have  often  seen  such,  six  or  seven  ells  long,  lying 
across  the  path  as  I  have  been  driving  out,  and  every 
month  a  new  one  shoots  forth.  This  always  shoots  up  in 
the  centre  of  the  crown,  like  an  upright  sceptre  ruling  the 
tree :  it  unfolds  itself  first  at  the  point,  and  the  delicate 
leaves  sport  in  the  wind  like  a  green  flame,  or  flag,  above 
the  tree. 

It  is  customary  in  this  neighborhood  to  cut  off  the 
branches  of  the  palm  in  the  woods  and  fields  for  the  pur- 
poses of  thatching  roofs,  &c,  and  the  tree  is  sometimes  left 
with  merely  two  or  three  branches,  by  which  one  might 
imagine  that  it  was  bereft  of  all  its  beauty ;  but  no !  the 
despoiled  palm  elevates  its  two  remaining  branches  with 
a  graceful  bend  toward  the  branches  of  another  tree  in  the 
same  condition,  and  you  behold  Grothic  porticoes,  and  arch- 
es of  the  most  beautiful  proportions,  arising  in  the  fields, 
or  in  the  depths  of  the  forest :  to  deprive  the  palm  of  its 
nobility  and  its  beauty  requires  the  destruction  of  its  life. 
The  king-palm  has  always  an  upright  column  or  stem; 
the  cocoa -palm,  on  the  contrary,  has  a  curved,  leaning 
stem,  much  thinner  than  that  of  the  king-palm.  I  see 
the  latter  almost  always  heavily  laden  with  fruit,  which 
grows  in  clusters  close  to,  or  beneath  the  branches.  Peo- 
ple here  are  fond  of  the  milk  of  the  fruit,  and  consider  it 
as  a  purifier  of  the  blood ;  it  has  the  appearance  of  whey, 
and  one  must  be  accustomed  to  its  flavor  before  one  can 
like  it.  The  fruit  of  the  king-palm  is  a  berry,  and  is  only 
used  for  fodder  for  cattle.  The  cabbage  of  the  palm,  as  it 
is  called — that  is,  the  middle  of  the  stem  nearest  to  the 
crown — the  very  core,  as  it  were,  of  the  tree,  is  said  to  be 
a  great  delicacy,  but  it  can  not  be  removed  without  taking 
the  life  of  the  tree. 

In  the  afternoons  I  have  driven  out  with  my  kind  host- 


360  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

ess,  in  her  volante,  to  visit  some  of  the  neighbors.  Yes- 
terday we  called  on  an  elderly  French  lady,  who  interested 
me  by  her  strongly-marked  individuality ;  it  was  a  pleas- 
ure to  hear  her  relate  any  thing,  and  to  follow  her  ex- 
pressions and  gestures.  In  a  general  way,  it  seems  to  me 
that  Europeans  have  far  more  accent  and  emphasis  in 
their  whole  being  than  the  Americans,  or  than  those  fam- 
ilies of  European  origin  which  have  been  resident  in  Amer- 
ica for  any  length  of  time.  The  former  speak  louder ; 
emphasize  the  words  more  strongly ;  use  more  action ;  ap- 
pear more  forcible  ;  make  more  demonstration  :  the  latter 
move  and  speak  with  very  little  outward  action ;  there  is 
a  something  silent  and  without  sound  in  their  being ;  en- 
ergy has  a  more  inward,  a  more  concentrated  power.  The 
great  expression  of  the  American  seems  to  be  properly,  in 
his  public  institutions,  in  the  development  of  the  political 
life  of  the  states,  in  the  advancement  of  commerce,  in  the 
magnitude  of  his  public  undertakings.  Individuality  does 
not  indeed  vanish,  but  it  seems  to  me  to  occupy  itself  in 
a  higher  species  of  manifestation. 

The  Spaniards  present,  in  manners  and  appearance,  the 
strongest  contrast  which  can  be  conceived  to  the  Anglo- 
American,  and  the  melody  and  majesty  of  the  Spanish 
language  always  enchants  me — excepting,  indeed,  when  I 
hear  it  spoken  or  screamed  out  by  uneducated  women.  I 
visited  a  farm  one  afternoon,  where  we  found  an  assembly 
of  ten  or  twelve  women  belonging  to  the  working-class, 
but  not  to  the  poorest.  They  were,  the  greater  number 
of  them,  thin  and  very  brown,  and  they  screamed  and 
made  such  a  din,  although  it  was  all  in  kindness  and 
cheerfulness,  that  it  was  almost  deafening ;  one  might 
have  imagined  one's  self  amid  a  flock  of  turkeys ;  and  to 
all  this  noise  was  added  a  great  deal  of  action,  very  en- 
ergetic, but  angular  and  quite  devoid  of  grace.  On  the 
contrary,  from  the  lips  of  educated  and  refined  women, 
the  Spanish  language  is  the  most  beautiful  music. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  35  j 

The  beautiful  cucuiios  are  now  my  torment  as  well  as 
my  delight,  because,  oh  !  they  are  stupid ;  and  when  they 
fold  together  their  wings,  they  are  the  most  awkward  and 
helpless  of  all  creatures.  During  their  flight  they  strike 
themselves  against  any  thing  that  comes  in  their  way,  and 
then  fall  down,  when  they  creep,  or  lie  upon  their  backs 
as  foolishly  as  our  cock-chafers.  They  allow  themselves 
to  be  caught  with  the  greatest  ease,  and,  once  caught, 
they  seem  to  forget  that  they  have  wings.  The  little  ne- 
gro children  run  after  them,  crying  "Cuccu!  cuccu!" 
catch  them  easily,  and  then  torment  them  in  many  ways. 
And  since  the  time  when  I  purchased  some  of  these  poor, 
stupid  creatures  for  a  few  g-alietas,  to  release  them  from 
the  hands  of  their  tormentors,  dozens  of  these  young  ne- 
groes come  crowding  in  the  evening  on  the  piazza,  which 
lies  on  the  same  level  with  the  great  parlor,  poke  in  their 
curly  heads,  and  stretch  out  their  hands,  with  the  brilliant 
insects  in  them,  shouting  "Cuccu!  cuccu!"  One  is  obliged 
to  purchase  some  of  them  out  of  captivity,  but  all — a  whole 
pocket  full  of  galietas,  would  not  suffice  for  that !  If  one 
makes  any  demonstration  of  driving  the  children  away, 
off  they  fly  like  a  flock  of  sparrows,  with  a  loud  cry  of 
exultation,  for  they  are  full  of  fun  ;  but  they  are  soon  back 
again,  shouting  "Cuccu!  cUccuV  If  one  takes  no  notice 
of  them,  they  will  steal  into  the  room — that  is  to  say,  if 
no  gentlemen  are  there — and  come  up  to  the  piano  when 
Miss  P.  is  playing  Cuban  dances,  or  I  Swedish  polkas,  and 
temptingly  stretch  out  their  hands  full  of  "cuccus,"  mer- 
rily laughing.  If  I  take  up  my  handkerchief  with  a  threat- 
ening gesture,  away  they  scamper  like  the  wind,  but 
merely  for  a  moment. 

These  beautiful  cucuiios  are  really  the  most  torment- 
ing of  all  creatures.  The  negroes  place  them  in  phials 
and  bottles,  and  use  them  as  lanterns  and  candles  in  their 
rooms.  In  this  way  they  will  live  for  a  week,  until  final- 
ly they  die  of  suffocation.     If  they  were  but  as  devoid  of 

Vol.  IT. — Q, 


362  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

feeling  as  they  are  of  sense !  The  children  of  the  family 
and  I  amuse  ourselves  in  the  evenings  by  endeavoring  to 
make  the  ouculios  fly,  which  we  have  either  picked  up  or 
purchased  out  of  bondage.  It  is  sometimes  difficult  to 
persuade  them  to  it,  but  when  one  sets  them  on  the  point 
of  one's  finger,  and  holds  it  up  in  the  air,  one  may  often 
see  them  spread  out  their  wings,  and,  making  their  dron- 
ing sound,  ascend  aloft,  giving  forth  their  beautiful,  in- 
comparable light. 

In  the  morning  I  return  to  Matanzas,  and  thence  I 
shall  proceed  to  Havana,  and  afterward  to  San  Antonio 
de  los  Bagnos — a  bathing-place,  where  the  country  is  said 
to  be  magnificent,  and  thence  to  a  plantation  at  some  dis- 
tance. A  young  planter  here,  a  French  Creole  of  the  name 
of  S.,  wishes  me  to  become  acquainted  with  his  mother, 
a  widow,  after  a  second  marriage  with  a  Spanish  marquis 
C,  who  resides  there ;  and  he  has  often  spoken  of  her  in 
such  a  manner  as  makes  me  wish  to  know  her.  Besides 
this,  she  is  said  to  enjoy  literature  and  art,  and  the  com- 
pany of  people  who  are  devoted  to  them.  I  shall  thus  re- 
main longer  in  Cuba  than  I  intended,  but — I  shall  be  at 
Cuba  only  once  in  my  life ;  and  Cuba  is  a  home  of  beauty, 
and  I  am  annoyed  that  it  is  so  little  known.  Natural 
historians,  architects,  painters,  and  poets  ought  to  come 
hither  for  new  knowledge  and  new  inspiration.  Air  and 
light,  the  vegetation  above  ground,  and  the  caverns  below 
it,  are  full  of  life  and  beauty !  There  is  also  a  remark- 
able grotto  not  far  from  this  plantation,  which  we,  if  pos- 
sible, shall  visit  early  in  the  morning. 

We  have  now  as  visitor  in  the  house  a  lively  young 
girl,  a  French  Creole,  Eudoxia  B.,  whose  cheerful  conver- 
sation, and  natural,  healthy,  and  graceful  manners  it  is 
a  pleasure  both  to  hear  and  see.  I  hear  from  her  that 
young  girls  have  sometimes  in  Cuba,  as  well  as  in  Swe- 
den, certain  Utopian  dreams  of  a  home  (a  kind  of  para- 
dise for  young  girls)  into  which  no  man  shall  be  allowed 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  353 

to  enter.  Eudoxia's  only  brother  is  said  also  to  have  sim- 
ilar dreams  of  a  corresponding  paradise  for  young  men, 
from  which  all  ladies  are  to  be  excluded.  I  am  mistaken 
if  these  young  exclusives  will  not,  one  fine  day,  exclude 
themselves  from  their  paradise  by  entering  the  marriage 
state ;  I  would  not  be  surety  for  the  pretty  Eudoxia's  vo- 
cation as  a  nun.  I  have  drawn  this  charming  young  girl's 
portrait  in  my  album.  A  little  green  lizard  sat  all  the 
while,  certainly  for  two  hours,  upon  a  vine-branch  by  the 
window,  and  peeped  in ;  another  lizard,  its  counterpart  or 
spouse,  sat  a  little  higher  up,  just  opposite,  and  seemed 
to  watch  its  movements.  The  little  creatures  amuse  me 
greatly,  they  look  so  wise  and  so  reflective.  When  they 
would  make  themselves  agreeable  one  to  another,  they 
open  a  kind  of  wing  on  one  side,  of  the  brightest  red  col- 
or, and  wave  it  about  like  a  fan. 

I  found  this  morning,  to  my  astonishment,  that  all  my 
cuculios  had  disappeared  from  the  glass  which  always 
stands  upon  my  toilet  table.  I  could  not  comprehend 
how  it  could  be,  for  I  knew  that  they  had  not  energy 
enough  to  leave  the  sugar-cane  and  fly  away.  Somewhat 
later  in  the  forenoon,  I  beheld  a  huge  coal-black  spider — 
as  large  as  a  little  child's  hand — sitting  upon  the  wall  of 
my  room  with  a  cuculio  in  its  mouth.  I  had  already  seen 
the  ugly  creature  there  several  times.  These  spiders  have 
a  hideous  appearance,  but  are  said  to  be  inoffensive  to 
man.  The  multitudes  of  creeping  things  here  are,  never- 
theless, a  nuisance;  in  order  to  preserve  eatables  from 
them,  they  must  be  surrounded  by  water. 

There  is  a  general  talk  now  of  a  fresh  attack  being 
made  on  Cuba,  a  new  attempt  at  conquest  which  is  said 
to  originate  with  the  Americans.  It  is  said,  also,  that  the 
expedition  is  arming  at  Yucatan,  and  consists  of  a  number 
of  people  who  were  in  the  Mexican  war;  it  is  expected 
about  Easter.  Many  families  on  the  plantations  hold 
themselves  in  readiness  for  flight  from  the  island  on  the 


364  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

first  outbreak  of  disturbances.  The  Creoles  are  bitterly- 
displeased  with  the  Spanish  government,  and  they  have 
reason  for  being  so.  They  wish  universally  to  be  liber- 
ated from  the  Spanish  yoke,  but  are  themselves  too  weak 
to  undertake  their  own  liberation  ;  and  they  fear  the  ne- 
groes, who,  on  the  first  occasion,  would  rise  against  them. 
The  Spanish  army  is  in  active  preparation  to  defend  the 
island  against  the  Americans.  The  American  government 
has  publicly  declared  itself  opposed  to  these  robber  expe- 
ditions, and  admonishes  all  good  citizens  of  the  United 
States  to  oppose  them.  The  Spaniards,  however,  suspect 
the  American  slave  states  of  being  concerned  in  them, 
and  of  desiring  their  success,  in  order  that,  by  the  annex- 
ation of  Cuba  as  a  slave  state,  they  might  have  a  balance 
in  the  South,  against  the  increase  of  the  free  states  in  the 
North.  I  shall  hear  the  result  of  all  this,  however,  in  the 
United  States. 

On  the  22d  of  April  I  shall  bid  farewell  to  this  beauti- 
ful, but  serpent-stung  Cuba ! 

Matanzas,  April  6th. 

I  am  once  more  at  the  good  and  excellent  house  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  B.,  happy  to  be  with  these  young  and  handsome 
people  inhaling  the  delicious  air  !  No  place  has  such  air 
as  Matanzas,  so  animating,  and  so  charming  ;  and  nowhere 
does  one  hear  so  much  music.  The  whole  day  through 
may  be  heard  Cuban  dances  from  four  or  five  pianos  in 
the  neighborhood ;  and  in  the  evening,  a  couple  of  gentle- 
men come  out  upon  a  piazza  nearly  opposite  to  ours,  and 
sing  Spanish  songs,  and  accompany  themselves  on  the 
guitar ;  a  skillful  harp-player  goes  about  from  door  to 
door,  twanging  upon  his  harp-strings  as  he  carries  his 
harp  on  his  back,  and  playing  at  the  doors  "La  Hauta 
Arragonesa"  that  dance  so  full  of  quivering  life,  till  my 
whole  being  quivers  and  dances  as  I  listen  to  it — or  la 
Cachuca,  so  full  of  grace ;  and  during  all  this,  the  band 
is  sounding  from  La  Plaza  dee  Armas,  where  the  beau 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  355 

monde  of  Matanzas  are  walking  about  in  the  moonlight 
beneath  the  poplars  ;  the  ladies  without  bonnets,  and  with 
flowers  or  other  ornaments  in  their  hair,  in  their  trans- 
parent veils  and  white  dresses — and  where  I  also  walk 
during  these  pleasant  evenings  with  my  young  hostess 
and  the  gentlemen  of  the  house,  or  with  my  agreeable 
young  countryman,  Mr.  F. ;  so  that  one  hears  music 
enough  at  Matanzas,  that  is,  in  the  evenings  especially, 
when  there  is  a  regular  charivari  of  it,  but  which  is  by 
no  means  disagreeable,  because  the  time  and  the  spirit 
of  the  music  is  in  all  cases  so  very  much  alike.  In  all 
this  there  is  a  gay,  sportive,  care-free  life ;  I  give  myself 
up  to  the  influence  of  it,  and  bathe,  as  it  were,  in  the 
softly  floating  atmosphere  which  dances  around  me,  like 
playful  zephyrs,  as  I  pace  the  piazza  till  toward  midnight, 
and  see  the  Southern  Cross  gleaming  as  it  ascends  higher 
and  higher  in  the  heavens,  above  a  row  of  dark-green, 
shadowy  sapota-trees.  Yes,  this  is  indeed  a  peculiarly 
delicious,  tranquil  life  ;  I  wish  that  every  body  could  thus 
enjoy  it.  On  the  prairies  of  America,  and  often  in  Amer- 
ica, did  I  stretch  out  my  arms  and  fly — fly  over  the  whole 
earth.  Here  I  wish  merely  to  be  quiet — to  sit  in  the 
shade  of  the  palms,  and  listen  to  the  rustling  of  their 
branches,  or  on  the  piazza  in  a  rocking-chair,  soothed  by 
music  and  the  zephyrs  of  Paradise ;  thus  could  I  sit,  it 
seems  to  me,  for  an  eternity,  and  feel  nothing  wanting! 

Mrs.  B.  drove  me  last  evening  in  her  volante  to  the  top 
of  Combre.  A  pair  of  horses  drew  the  volante  rapidly  up 
the  hill,  although  it  is  a  two  hours'  journey.  The  road 
lay  between  lofty  candelabra-like  aloe-plants  ;  and  when 
we  had  reached  the  summit  or  ridge  of  hills,  we  beheld 
the  blue,  vast  sea  stretching  out  on  the  right  hand,  scat- 
tered over  with  trading  vessels  and  ships  of  war  both 
large  and  small ;  all  that  great  world's  life  and  that  bound- 
less ocean  of  the  world  ;  and  to  the  left,  inclosed  within 
mountains,  Yumori  Valley,  with  its  green  and  lovely  groves 


366  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

of  palms,  like  a  quiet,  peaceful  paradise — a  greater  or 
more  beautiful  contrast  can  not  be  imagined.  Beautiful 
habitations,  the  country  houses  of  the  wealthy  inhabitants 
of  Matanzas,  were  scattered  about  this  elevation,  sur- 
rounded by  trees  and  flowers.  We  saw  the  sun  set  and 
the  moon  rise  in  calm  majesty.  I  could  merely  say, 
"  Grod,  how  beautiful  are  thy  works  !" 

Oh  !  I  would  bring  to  this  height  of  Combre  the  woman 
wearied  and  imbittered  by  life — she  who  has  seen  into 
the  darkened  abysses  of  life ;  I  would  let  her  here  see, 
breathe,  and  derive  again  courage  and  hope  from  these 
speaking  symbols  of  the  affluence  and  glory  of  the  All- 
good  !  I  would  place  her  here,  and  say  to  her,  "  See,  all 
this  is  thine — will  be  thine  one  day  when  thy  desert-pil- 
grimage shall  be  ended,  and  thou  shalt  have  won  the  vic- 
tory— Trust  and  hope  !" 

We  drove  back  through  the  clearest  moonlight,  with  the 
view  across  the  bay  lying  unbroken  before  us  the  whole 
way.  But  Mrs.  B.  and  I  had  absorbed  ourselves  in  a  con- 
versation upon  quite  another  subject  than  the  beauties  of 
nature,  and  I  gave  to  them  merely  a  half  attention,  a  pre- 
occupied mind,  and  now  feel  a  little  reproach  of  con- 
science. 

10th.  Ah,  how  charming  it  was  to  receive  a  letter  from 
you,  and  to  know  how  every  thing  was  at  home.  The 
letter  was,  it  is  true,  somewhat  old,  for  it  was  written  in 
January,  but  it  sounded  deliciously  fresh  to  me,  poor  West- 
Indian  pilgrim  !  And  nothing  in  it  pleased  me  more  than 
to  know  that  you,  on  the  first  of  June,  will  go  with  the 
Q,.'s  to  Marstrand.  Thoughtful,  rational  people,  brother- 
in-law  and  sister ! 

I  shall  not,  however,  be  at  home  in  July,  and  perhaps 
not  even  in  August ;  I  have  still  so  much  to  see  and  to 
consider  thoroughly  in  the  United  States  ;  but  when  cold- 
er weather  comes,  then,  my  dear  child,  I  shall  come  and 
be  with  you  and  mamma.     And  how  much  of  light,  and 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  367 

warmth,  and  good,  both  in  great  and  small,  shall  I  not 
have  gathered  up  in  my  wanderings — nor  shall  I  keep 
them  all  to  myself — of  that  you  may  be  sure  ! 

I  have  enjoyed,  and  still  enjoy,  much  in  Cuba,  both  in 
soul  and  body,  and  I  have  become  really  stout  and  young 
a^ain  there  (N.B. — In  comparison  with  what  I  was  in 
the  United  States,  where  I  grew  both  thin  and  old).  I 
should  have  still  further  improved  if  I  could  only  have 
rested  somewhat.  But  my  imagination  has  been  so  much 
invigorated — or,  rather,  so  much  excited  here,  that  it  has 
left  me  no  repose,  but  has  kept  me  in  an  almost  continual 
fever.  New  objects  and  new  combinations  are  continually 
presenting  themselves,  and  exciting  me  to  copy  them  or 
to  avail  myself  of  them,  and  urging  me  to  undertake 
more  than  I  can  accomplish,  both  as  regards  time  and 
ability.  It  is  almost  laughable,  and  sometimes  also  a  lit- 
tle to  be  regretted,  because  I  can  get  no  rest.  I  am, 
however,  more  amused  by  my  work  than  I  have  ever  been, 
and  I  take  portraits  now  better  than  I  did  formerly,  but 
those  which  are  most  successful  I  generally  leave  at  the 
homes  where  I  am  staying  at  the  time.  Yes,  those  good, 
beautiful  homes  !  they  have  been  as  good  to  me  at  Cuba 
as  in  the  United  States ;  open,  hospitable,  they  have  af- 
forded me  rest  and  friends,  and  have  enabled  me  to  see 
and  to  know  the  inner  life  and  condition  of  society,  and 
have  given  me  an  opportunity  of  seeing  people  who  will 
be  united  in  my  heart  with  the  delicious  air  and  the  beau- 
tiful palms  of  Cuba.  Among  these  is  Mrs.  P.,  one  of  the 
best  hearts  in  the  world — one  of  those  gentle,  motherly 
beings  whom  one  must  love  and  reverence  with  one's 
whole  heart.  It  was  a  grief  to  me  to  part  with  her  and 
her  kind  daughters,  who  overwhelmed  me  with  kindness- 
es and  gifts,  even  to  the  last  moment. 

I  live  with  the  young  couple  here  as  with  a  younger 
brother  and  sister,  and  am  as  happy  as  possible  with  them 
in  their  lovely  home,  and  in  the  charming  air  of  Matanzas. 


368  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

I  have  again  visited  my  beloved  valley  of  Yumori,  and 
made  a  drawing  of  its  opening,  as  being  most  manageable 
from  the  azotea  of  the  house,  which  commands  a  beautiful 
view  of  this  point.  I  wished  also  to  draw  a  Cuban  house, 
and  selected  for  this  purpose  a  small,  very  pretty  house 
on  La  Plaza  des  Armas.  Very  early  in  the  morning,  ac- 
cordingly, I  seated  myself  upon  a  bench,  under  the  pop- 
lars there,  with  pencil  and  book,  and  thus  hoped,  quite  un- 
observed, to  place  Casa  donna  Fabriana  Hernandez  in 
my  album.  The  first  morning,  every  thing  succeeded  to 
my  wishes.  One  negro  only  looked  out  of  the  gate  of  the 
house  and  cast  suspicious  glances  at  me.  The  second 
morning,  however,  several  heads  peeped  forth  from  the 
house,  and  a  crowd  of  lads  gathered  round  me,  peeping 
into  my  album.  On  the  third  morning,  the  house  was  in 
evident  inward  uneasiness,  and  tall  men  came  round  me 
talking  Spanish,  not  in  any  unfriendly  manner,  and  with 
questions  to  which  I  could  give  no  other  reply  than  bv 
showing  them  my  drawing,  and  saying  "  hermoso  Casa  in 
Matanzas."  They  laughed,  but  would  see  me  at  work, 
and  there  was  no  more  tranquillity  for  me;  I  therefore 
left  the  place  as  soon  as  I  had  done  sufficient  of  the  house 
to  enable  me  to  finish  the  drawing  at  home.  A  handsome 
Cuban  house,  with  its  fresco-paintings,  its  handsome  iron 
railing,  parapet,  and  decorations,  is  a  complete  trinket  from 
its  ornament  and  loveliness.  The  gate  of  the  house  is, 
comparatively  speaking,  too  large  for  the  house,  and  there 
always  stands  the  elegant  volante,  which  may  be  regarded 
as  the  feet  of  the  family,  because  these  seldom  move  out 
of  the  house  excepting  to  be  conveyed  by  it.  The  gate  is 
always  kept  fastened  except  when  it  is  opened  for  the  vo- 
lante, and  a  little  wicket  in  the  gate  serves  for  the  ingress 
and  egress  of  pedestrians. 

I  drive  out  in  the  afternoons  with  Mrs.  B.,  sometimes  to 
make  purchases,  and  sometimes  upon  one  of  the  beautiful 
promenades,  Paseo  de  Tacon  or  La  Pleja;  this  last,  along 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  369 

the  shore,  where  we  breathe  the  fresh,  delightful  sea-air, 
while  the  waves  dash  and  roar  against  the  beach,  is  inde- 
scribably delightful.  It  is  sometimes  late  before  we  re- 
turn, and  then  it  is  beautiful  to  see  the  lights  gleaming 
in  Matanzas,  in  the  shadow  of  the  hills  along  the  shore, 
in  the  dark  but  clear  air. 

Our  shopping  is  managed  in  this  way :  the  volante  stops 
before  a  shop,  when  immediately  one  or  two  shopmen 
hasten  out  to  the  carriage,  and  inform  themselves  of  what 
the  signoras  require.  We  mention  what  we  wish,  and 
immediately  as  great  a  choice  of  the  particular  article  is 
brought  out  to  us  as  we  can  desire,  and  our  purchase  is 
made  without  our  leaving  the  volante.  But,  whether  we 
purchase  or  not,  the  behavior  of  the  young  gentlemen  of 
the  shop  is  alike  polite,  attentive,  and  agreeable.  Yes, 
one  might  fancy  that  a  young  page  of  the  days  of  chivalry 
rather  than  a  simple  shopman  was  before  one,  so  court- 
eously and  agreeably  does  he  behave,  that  young  Spaniard, 
to  the  purchasing  signoras  or  senoritas,  as  he  sometimes 
calls  them  in  a  flattering,  melodious  voice. 

Many  of  these  young  tradesmen  are  sons  of  good  fam- 
ilies of  the  island,  for  the  Creoles  have  not  much  higher 
prospect  in  life  than  trade  or  agriculture.  Civil  and  mil- 
itary employment  is  generally  given  to  Spaniards. 

During  these  drives,  my  young  hostess  salutes  the  pass- 
ers-by, or  the  people  in  their  houses,  with  a  gracious  wave 
of  the  hand,  and  the  word  adios!  as  we  proceed.  Such 
is  the  custom  here,  and  the  salutation  by  a  graceful  and 
friendly  movement  of  the  hand,  which  has  various  de- 
grees of  expression  and  warmth,  is  universal  both  for  la- 
dies and  gentlemen,  and  seems  to  me  a  graceful  and  be- 
coming mode  of  salutation,  in  comparison  with  which 
our  custom  of  a  gentleman's  taking  off  his  hat  seems  very 
troublesome  and  unnecessary.  The  polite  Spaniard  adds 
to  this  salutation  of  a  lady,  "I  kiss  your  hands!"  which, 
of  course,  means  nothing,  but  which  sounds  well,  and  the 

0,2 


370  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

expression  of  his  countenance  is  at  the  same  time  ex- 
tremely charming.  The  Spaniards  are  certainly  the  most 
polite  of  all  men,  but  it  is  asserted  that  they  are  just  as 
fickle. 

I  yesterday  afternoon  saw  the  Spanish  soldiers  exercise. 
Their  maneuvers  were  excellent ;  but  they  were  very  short 
men.  Their  discipline  and  conduct  on  the  island  is  said 
to  be  very  good. 

With  the  evening  comes  music,  both  within  and  out  of 
the  house,  and  the  play  of  the  sea-breezes  on  the  piazza. 
Mrs.  B.  plays  the  lively  Cuban  and  Spanish  dances  re- 
markably well;  and  now  also  she  plays  Swedish  polkas, 
which  she  has  learned  from  me,  and  I  play  her  dances. 
Sometimes  there  are  visitors,  both  of  the  European  set- 
tlers on  the  island  and  Spanish  ladies,  who  always  ma- 
neuver and  flutter  a  great  deal  with  their  fans,  for  the 
weight  and  the  splendor  of  the  fan  is  the  pride  of  the 
Spanish  lady.  I  have  seen  here  fans  which  have  cost 
from  twenty-five  to  one  hundred  dollars  each.  The  most 
valuable  are  of  ivory  set  with  gold,  and  greatly  ornament- 
ed, in  part,  with  small  oval  mirrors  on  the  outer  sides. 
The  maneuvering  with  the  fan  is  quite  a  little  science, 
in  which  the  Spanish  lady  or  Spanish  Creole  lady  com- 
prehends a  whole  language  of  signs,  by  which  she  con- 
verses when  and  how  she  will  with  the  friend  of  her 
heart. 

In  the  reception-rooms  of  Cuba  stand  two  rows  of  rock- 
ing chairs,  some  of  the  Spanish  and  some  of  the  Ameri- 
can style — the  Spanish  being  very  much  more  magnifi- 
cent and  heavier — the  one  against  the  windows,  and  the 
other  within  the  room.  Here  people  sit  and  talk,  rocking 
and  fanning  themselves  while  the  wind  sports  in  through 
the  windows.  They  drink  tea  and  eat  preserves.  The 
Creole  ladies  have  fine,  soft  brown  eyes ;  they  are  said  to 
have  good  natural  understanding  and  intelligence,  but  to 
be  very  ignorant.     They  are  principally  occupied  within 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  37 1 

the  house  in  sewing,  dressing  themselves,  and  receiving 
visitors. 

I  shall  make  one  more  excursion  with  my  kind  friends 
— that  is  to  say,  up  the  Canima,  which  is  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  rivers  of  Cuba,  and  not  far  from  this  place ; 
then  I  must  say  farewell  to  Matanzas. 

April  13£A,  evening.  Yesterday  morning,  before  sun- 
rise, we  set  out,  Mrs.  B.,  her  brother  Philip,  and  myself, 
and,  just  as  the  sun  ascended  in  all  his  glory  from  the 
sea,  we  put  off  from  the  shore  at  Matanzas.  An  elderly, 
weather-beaten  seaman  from  the  Canary  Isles,  and  his 
two  young  sons,  were  our  boatmen.  The  sea  was  quite 
calm,  or  merely  moved  in  long  smooth  waves  without 
foam.  This  was  all  as  it  should  be,  for  otherwise  we 
could  not  have  entered  the  Canima,  which,  in  rough 
weather,  is  dangerous  at  its  outlet  into  the  sea.  Cuba 
has  many  rivers  flowing  from  the  mountains,  but  none 
large,  and  none  navigable  to  any  great  extent. 

After  a  sail  of  about  half  an  hour  on  the  sea,  we  reach- 
ed the  outlet  of  the  Canima,  a  clear  little  river  flowing 
with  a  sweep  into  the  sea,  from  between  lofty,  precipi- 
tous, rocky  walls  covered  with  tropical  vegetation.  Fan- 
palms  waved  on  the  heights  in  picturesque  groups,  and 
along  the  steep,  rocky  heights  grew  an  infinite  variety 
of  trees  and  shrubs,  amid  which  hung  splendid  orchids, 
with  red,  yellow,  white,  and  purple  flowers,  around  which 
hovered  swarms  of  green  humming-birds.  Nearest  to  the 
river  grew  trees  and  shrubs  of  bamboo,  bending  down  to- 
ward the  water  with  a  movement  of  such  incomparable 
grace,  that  it  enchanted  me,  and  made  me  almost  melan- 
choly. The  shadow  of  the  hills  fell  over  the  river,  which, 
perfectly  calm,  lay,  with  its  tropical  world,  like  a  beauti- 
ful mystery  before  us.  Thus  advanced  we  onward  hour 
after  hour,  and  at  every  new  bend  of  the  river  discovered 
new  beauties,  but  all  of  the  same  character — palms,  aloes, 
bamboos,  orchids,  humming-birds.     A  lovely  white  bird 


372  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

flew  continually  in  advance  of  us  for  some  time,  alight- 
ing on  the  banks  to  rest,  and  then  flying  on  again  when 
we  approached,  only  anew  to  show  us  the  way;  they 
called  it  the  gazza.  But  the  sun  ascended,  and  there 
was  not  a  breath  of  air  in  that  deep  glen.  The  boys  who 
rowed  us  poured,  every  now  and  then,  water  down  their 
throats  from  the  spout  of  a  clay  vessel,  in  such  a  manner 
that  the  stream  of  water  flowed  straight  into  their  stom- 
achs without  any  appearance  of  swallowing.  They  held 
their  heads  slanting  backward,  their  mouths  wide  open, 
and  the  clay  spout  at  some  distance  from  their  mouths, 
and  in  this  way  the  water  flowed  down  their  throats  for 
several  seconds,  after  which  they  cried  or  groaned  out  Ave 
Maria  !  laughed,  and  rowed  on. 

We  landed  at  a  little  bend  of  the  river,  and  ate  our 
breakfast  under  some  beautiful  bamboo-trees,  while  the 
humming-birds  danced  over  their  red  flowers  around  us. 

I  took  a  walk  along  the  banks  of  the  river,  which  is 
here  very  narrow.  A  couple  of  ruinous  wooden  houses 
stood  upon  the  opposite  bank ;  the  most  lovely  groups  of 
palms  and  bamboos  were  scattered  beside  the  river.  The 
whole  scene  had  a  luxuriant  and  paradisiacally  wild  ap- 
pearance. Crabs,  and  that  species  of  craw-fish  which  is 
called  in  America  the  fiddler,  from  its  one  large  claw, 
swarmed  on  the  shore,  as  they  had  done  through  the 
whole  of  our  course.  Spite  of  all  the  beauty  of  the  vege- 
tation, I  felt  that,  in  order  for  any  one  to  live  happily  here 
in  this  narrow  world,  he  must  be  either  a  crab  or  a  hum- 
ming-bird.    I  should  have  died  here  for  want  of  fresh  air. 

"We  were  surprised  on  our  return  by  a  thunder-storm 
of  the  wildest  description,  and,  notwithstanding  the  arched 
sail-cloth  covering  of  our  boat,  we  were  wet  through,  which 
made  me  very  uneasy  on  account  of  Mrs.B.,  who  was  not 
well  that  day,  and  who  is  not  strong.  We  were  glad  to 
reach  home  after  a  sail  of  ten  hours.  Our  boatmen  con- 
tinued to  pour  water  into  themselves,  and  to  sigh  out  their 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  373 

Ave  Maria  !  and  were  to  the  last  in  good  humor,  and  ap- 
parently unwearied :  I  can  not  but  admire  their  power  of 
endurance. 

We  were  very  weary;  but  we  had,  however,  seen  the 
Canima,  and  I  now  can  place  the  impression  of  its  tropic- 
al scenery  beside  that  of  the  Hudson,  the  Savannah,  the 
Mississippi,  the  Ohio,  and  other  rivers  of  the  Western  land 
which  I  traversed. 

And  now  it  is  evening — my  last  evening  at  Matanzas ; 
in  the  morning  I  shall  set  off  to  Havana.  I  have  spent 
the  evening  alone  with  my  young  friends ;  I  have  for  the 
last  time  heard  Mrs.  B.  play  La  Hauta  Arragonesa ;  have 
heard  for  the  last  time  Adeste  fideles  played  by  Mr.  B.  on 
the  organ.  I  asked  them  for  these  pieces,  that  I  might 
bear  them  away  with  me  as  my  latest  memories  of  the 
days  spent  in  their  home ;  and  in  the  morning  early  I 
part  from  these  estimable,  kind  people — from  Matanzas 
and  its  beautiful  .neighborhood.  It  grieves  me  to  leave 
them,  but  it  can  not  be  helped.  Never  more  shall  I  feel 
such  an  atmosphere  —  such  zephyrs;  never  again  hear 
such  a  flood  of  joyous  music ;  never  again  behold  Yu- 
mori,  Canima,  and  Combre! 


LETTER  XXX Y. 

Havana,  April  15th. 
Good-morning  once  more,  my  little  heart,  in  Havana, 
where  I  am  excellently  lodged  in  Mr.  Woolcott's  good  ho- 
tel, Havana  House,  and  where  I  am  now  able  to  live  cheap- 
er than  at  first,  because  the  flood  of  travelers  has  now 
somewhat  withdrawn,  and  there  is  plenty  of  room.  I 
have  again  my  former  little  room,  with  its  outlet  on  the 
roof,  and  the  clever,  good-tempered  Mrs.  Mary  to  look  after 
me,  and  a  black  Rosetta,  with  splendid  eyes  and  a  cheer- 
ful smile,  to  wait  upon  me  as  a  second  servant.     The  good 


374  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORI/D. 

F.'s  hav$  also  again  invited  me  to  take  up  my  former  quar- 
ters in  their  house ;  but  the  house  is  full  of  children  and 
guests,  and  I  will  not  abuse  their  hospitality ;  besides,  I 
so  infinitely  enjoy  my  solitude  and  my  liberty. 

This  is  Maunday-Thursday,  a  great  holiday  in  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  and  I  have  this  morning  visited  two  church- 
es in  the  city.  There  was  great  pomp  in  them.  Ladies, 
dressed  as  for  a  ball,  knelt  upon  splendid  mats  in  silk  at- 
tire, and  satin  shoes,  jewels,  gold  ornaments,  and  flowers, 
with  bare  neck  and  arms,  and  every  where  the  transparent 
black  mantillas,  and  every  where  glittering,  waving  fans. 
Quite  young  girls,  even,  were  so  tricked  out;  and  all 
around  them  stood  gentlemen  contemplating  the  ladies 
through  their  lorgnettes.  The  sight  of  all  these  adorned, 
only  half-veiled  women  of  all  colors — for  mulattoes  also, 
very  splendidly  attired  and  with  magnificent  figures,  were 
among  them — prostrated  in  crowds  on  their  knees  in  the 
centre  aisle  of  the  church,  from  the  very  end  to  the  altar, 
is  really  beautiful,  especially  as  the  eyes  and  busts  of  the 
Spanish  women  are  generally  remarkably  lovely.  But 
the  want  of  earnestness  in  every  thing,  excepting  in  van- 
ity and  the  wish  to  be  admired,  was  very  striking,  espe- 
cially on  a  day  such  as  this — the  day  of  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per— that  calm,  unpretending,  solemn  day  of  initiation  to 
the  highest  and  holiest  life  of  humanity.  I  called  to  re- 
membrance a  Maunday-Thursday  in  St.  Jacob's  Church 
at  Stockholm ;  there  simply  called  "  Groing  to  the  Lord's 
Supper."  Whole  families  assemble — father,  mother,  and 
children,  assemble  to  drink  together  from  the  cup.  I  re- 
membered the  silence,  the  calm,  deep  devotion  of  all  who 
filled  that  crowded  church ! 

There  is  but  one  general  voice  in  Cuba,  among  the  stran- 
gers of  various  nations  dwelling  there,  of  tj>e  entire  want 
of  religious  life  on  the  island.  The  clergy  live  in  open  de- 
fiance of  their  vows  ;  are  respected  by  no  one,  nor  deserve 
to  be  so ;  nor  does  morality  stand  any  higher  than  religion. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  375 

"  There  is  plenty  of  love  and  passion  at  Cuba,"  said  a 
thoughtful  young  man,  a  resident  there,  to  me,  "  but  it  is 
more  frequently  on  the  side  of  vice  than  of  virtue." 

The  god  of  money  is  blindly  worshiped.  It  is  very  sel- 
dom that  a  marriage  takes  place  in  which  he  has  not  been 
consulted  before  any  other.  Ladies  who  remain  unmar- 
ried seldom  continue  blameless  in  their  lives.  Unmarried 
men  never  are  so. 

People  come  to  this  beautiful  island,  like  parasites,  mere- 
ly to  suck  its  life  and  live  at  its  expense.  But  it  avenges 
itself,  flings  around  them  its  hundred  -  fold,  oppressive, 
snake-like  arms,  drags  them  down,  suffocates  their  higher 
life,  and  changes  them  into  a  corpse  in  its  embrace. 

In  the  evening.  I  have  again  visited  three  or  four 
churches.  They  are  splendidly  illuminated  this  evening, 
especially  the  choirs  and  around  the  altar-pieces.  They 
were  less  crowded  than  at  morning  mass,  and  now  princi- 
pally by  a  lower  class  of  people.  Several  seemed  to  be 
kneeling  and  praying  with  devotion.  There  sat,  one  on 
each  side  the  entrance  of  the  Cathedral,  two  magnificent 
Spanish  dames  entirely  covered  with  jewels,  each  with  a 
table  before  her,  upon  which  a  collection  was  made  for 
the  poor.  One  single  jewel  from  all  their  splendor  would 
richly  have  outweighed  all  the  offerings  of  those  humble 
people.  I  passed  in  and  out  without  impediment,  min- 
gled with  the  crowds  in  the  churches,  or  with  the  crowds 
in  the  streets,  and  all  was  peaceable  and  quiet.  The  ap- 
pearance was  of  a  people  going  about  to  amuse  themselves 
From  this  moment  to  Easter  Sunday  morning  at  about 
nine  o'clock,  a  profound  stillness  prevails  in  Havana  ;  not 
a  single  volante  is  seen  in  the  streets.  To-morrow  after- 
noon they  will  be  occupied  by  a  great  procession. 

Easter  Sunday.  I  witnessed  the  procession  the  day  be- 
fore yesterday,  with  two  American  acquaintances,  from 
the  piazza  of  La  Plaza  des  Armas.  Ladies  dressed  as 
for  a  ball,  white,  yellow,  brown,  and  black,  attended  by 


376  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

gentlemen,  filled  the  square  early  in  the  afternoon,  walk- 
ing about,  talking,  and  laughing.  The  mulatto  ladies 
were  particularly  distinguishable  by  their  showiness,  brill- 
iant flowers  and  ornaments  in  their  hair  and  in  their  bo- 
soms, and  in  these  they  flaunted  about  in  the  style  of  proud 
peacocks.  It  was  evident  that  people  were  expecting  a 
splendid  show.  In  the  twilight  the  procession  approach- 
ed with  candles  and  blazing  torches.  The  figure  of  the 
dead  Christ  is  borne  along  lying  upon  a  state-bed,  beneath 
an  immense  chandelier,  which  lights  up  the  pale,  noble, 
wax  countenance.  Mary  weeping  is  borne  after  in  a 
gold-embroidered  mantle,  and  with  a  golden  crown  on  her 
head ;  and  Mary  Magdalene,  and  the  other  Mary,  have 
also  their  magnificent  garments.  The  procession  was 
large,  and  not  without  a  certain  pomp  and  dignity.  Among 
those  who  took  part  in  the  procession,  I  observed  a  num- 
ber of  negroes  with  large  white  scarfs  bound  across  the 
breast  and  shoulders.  I  was  told  that  they  belonged  to  a 
kind  of  order  of  Freemasons,  who  attached  themselves  to 
the  church  by  the  exercise  of  deeds  of  mercy,  taking  care 
of  hospitals,  &c. 

Thousands  of  people  streamed  gayly  along  the  streets 
and  squares,  and  the  colored  portion  especially  brilliant, 
in  all  the  colors  of  the  rainbow.  It  was  a  splendid  spec- 
tacle, but  not  at  all  suitable  for  the  occasion.  Not  a  par- 
ticle of  seriousness  was  observable  among  the  masses  of 
people.  It  was  very  evident  by  this  procession  that  relig- 
ion was  dead  in  Cuba ! 

Nevertheless,  yesterday  was  a  great  fast,  and  a  deep 
stillness  prevailed  throughout  the  lively  Havana.  This 
morning  the  image  of  the  arisen  Christ  was  borne  in  great 
procession  from  the  Cathedral  to  the  Church  of  St.  Catali- 
na  ;  and  from  St.  Catalina,  in  the  mean  time,  another  pro- 
cession was  advancing,  the  weeping  Mary  Magdalene  seek- 
ing for  Christ.  When  the  processions  meet,  and  it  is  pro- 
claimed that  Mary  Magdalene  has  met  Christ,  a  shot  is 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  377 

fired,  and  all  the  bells  of  the  churches  begin  to  ring,  flags 
to  wave  in  the  harbor  and  on  the  church  towers,  and 
trumpets  to  be  blown.  The  fast  is  at  an  end.  Volantes 
drive  out  of  the  gates,  and  negroes  rush  about  also,  shout- 
ing and  laughing ;  a  thoughtless,  universal  jubilation  at 
once  begins. 

During  all  this  I  quietly  betook  myself  to  my  favorite 
Cortina  de  Valdez.  It  was  the  loveliest  morning  that 
could  be  imagined.  The  bright  blue  sea,  agitated  by  the 
wind,  flung  itself  in  lofty,  silvery-crested  waves  around  the 
feet  of  the  rocks  of  the  Moro,  and  the  flags  in  the  harbor 
fluttered  cheerfully  in  the  morning  breeze.  The  atmos- 
phere was  full  of  regenerated  life.  White  doves  flew  down 
to  the  white  marble  basin,  and  drank  of  its  fresh  spring 
waters  ;  little  green  lizards  darted  about  on  the  wall  with 
love  and  delight ;  and  as  I  walked  along,  my  soul  utter- 
ed these  words : 

She  walks  along  lonely, 

She  comes  from  a  foreign  land  ; 

She  is  distant  from  friends  and  from  kindred ; 

She  walks  along  lowly, 

Lonely  she  walks  among  strangers  ; 

They  of  her  having  no  knowledge, 

She  not  knowing  them  ; 

They  look  upon  her 

With  cold  and  indifferent  glances. 

Yet  still  her  spirit 

O'erfloweth  with  joy, 

With  bliss  gusheth  over, 

And  bright  are  her  eyes, 

With  warm  tears  of  gladness. 

She  has  one  friend, 

One  friend  who  was  dead, 

And  he  has  arisen, 

And  this  is  his  day  of  arising, 

The  morning  of  Easter  ! 

And  fresh  living  breezes, 

And  the  bright  sun  ascending, 

And  the  ringing  of  church-bells, 

And  the  fluttering  of  banners, 

And  flowers  unfolding, 


378  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

And  twittering  of  lizards, 

And  the  beating  of  drums, 

And  the  blaring  of  trumpets, 

And  the  great  ocean, 

And  white  doves  which  drink  at  the  rim  of  the  fountain ; 

They  all  speak  of  Him, 

They  all  bear  His  name, 

That  name  so  beloved, 

And  His  name  by  the  whole  world  is  borne  ! 

April  20th.  Your  birth -day!  Blessings  on  the  day 
which  gave  me  my  dear  friend  !  I  can  not  to-day  pre- 
sent you  with  flowers,  but  I  can  sit  down  in  thought  with 
you,  and  tell  you  the  history  of  the  day,  which  was  to  me 
party-colored,  but  amusing,  and  which  will  perhaps  amuse 
you  more  than  a  bouquet. 

Two  American  gentlemen,  of  the  chivalric  species,  whom 
I  hope  our  Lord  will  bless  with  man's  best  reward — good 
and  beautiful  wives — had  taken  charge  of  me  and  my  ef- 
fects when  I  came  by  rail-way  from  Matanzas  to  Havana, 
and  conducted  me  and  mine,  safe  and  sound,  to  Havana 
House.  One  of  them,  who  has  resided  much  in  Cuba, 
Texas,  and  Mexico,  and  who  has,  in  consequence,  a  touch 
of  the  Spaniards'  grace  of  speech  and  manner,  has  since 
that  time  been  a  very  agreeable  companion  to  me,  and  I 
have  to  thank  him  for  presenting  me,  through  conversa- 
tion, with  living  pictures  of  the  scenery,  population,  and 
manners  of  these  Southern  lands.  The  other,  Mr.  F.,  a 
merchant  of  New  York,  is  grave  and  simple  in  his  man- 
ners, one  of  those  men  with  whom  I  always  am  at  ease, 
and  to  whom  I  feel  a  sort  of  sisterly  relationship. 

This  gentleman  has  accompanied  me  with  noble  Amer- 
ican simplicity,  and  as  kindly  and  with  as  little  sense  of 
impropriety  as  if  he  had  been  a  brother,  in  various  of  my 
little  excursions,  making  all  the  needful  arrangements  for 
me  in  the  pleasantest  manner.  Thus  we  took  a  sail  to- 
gether to-day  in  the  beautiful  bay,  crossed  over  to  the 
heights  Casa  Blanca,  which  are  covered  with  the  wild 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  379 

candelabra-like  aloes,  and  saw  from  thence  a  glorious  sun- 
set ;  after  which  we  rowed  round  in  the  dark,  clear  shadows 
of  the  hills  on  the  water,  and  saw  it  drip  in  gold  and  silver 
drops  from  the  oars.  It  was  a  beautiful  excursion,  which 
had  only  one  shadow ;  that  was  the  company  of  a  German 
gentleman,  who  had  a  great  deal  of  that  imperiousness 
which  one  frequently  finds  in  European  gentlemen,  but 
seldom  or  never  in  Americans.  His  inflated  manner  form- 
ed on  this  occasion  a  great  contrast  to  the  single-minded- 
ness  of  the  American,  who,  in  his  simplicity,  was  so  far 
his  superior.     But  this  is  merely  en  passant. 

I  was,  in  reality,  going  to  tell  you  of  a  visit  which  I  and 
my  two  American  gentlemen  had  made  to  the  Cabildos  de 
Negros,  or  to  the  assemblies  of  the  free  negroes  of  the 
city.  It  was  not  possible  for  me  to  go  alone.  These  two 
gentlemen  offered  to  escort  me,  and  Mr.  C,  who  spoke 
Spanish  like  a  native,  undertook  to  obtain  admission  for 
us,  although  the  free  negroes,  in  general,  do  not  admit  of 
the  whites  in  their  society,  nor  are  they  by  any  means  so 
patient  or  so  much  under  restraint  as  in  the  United  States. 

As  these  clubs  generally  meet  in  the  afternoons  and 
evenings  of  the  Sunday,  we  set  off  in  the  afternoon  to  the 
street  in  which  the  cabildos  are  situated,  for  they  occupy 
a  whole  street  near  one  of  the  toll-gates  of  the  city.  The 
whole  street  swarmed  with  negroes,  some  decked  out  with 
ribbons  and  bells,  some  dancing,  others  standing  in  groups 
here  and  there.  There  prevailed  a  wild  but  not  rude 
sort  of  lawlessness,  and  on  all  hands,  near  and  afar  off, 
was  heard  the  gay,  measured  beat  of  the  African  drum. 
Round  the  gates  of  the  different  halls  were  collected  groups 
of  white  people,  most  of  them  evidently  sailors,  who  were 
endeavoring  to  get  sight  of  what  was  passing  inside  ;  but 
a  couple  of  negroes,  stationed  at  each  with  sticks  in  their 
hands,  kept  the  entrance  closed  with  good-tempered  de- 
termination, and  did  not  allow  the  doors  to  open  beyond 
half  wav. 


380  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

By  some  means,  however,  Mr.  C.  succeeded  in  getting 
his  head  within  the  door  of  the  Luceomees'  Cabildo,  and 
then  requested  permission  for  la  Signora  to  enter.  Some 
negro  heads  peeped  out,  and  when  they  saw  my  white 
bonnet  and  veil,  and  the  flowers  which  I  wore — for  I 
adorn  myself  more  with  flowers  here  than  in  Sweden — 
they  looked  kind,  and  granted  permission  per  la  Signora, 
and  the  gentlemen  also  who  accompanied  her  were  allow- 
ed to  enter  ;  but  the  door  was  immediately  closed  to  vari- 
ous others  who  wished  to  thrust  in  after  us. 

Chairs  were  offered  to  us  not  far  from  the  door  ;  we 
were  presented  to  the  queen  and  the  king  of  the  assembly, 
who  made  demonstrations  of  good- will,  and  we  were  then 
left  to  look  about  us  in  quiet. 

The  room  was  tolerably  large,  and  might  contain  about 
one  hundred  persons.  On  the  wall  just  opposite  to  us 
was  painted  a  crown,  and  a  throne  with  a  canopy  over  it. 
There  stood  the  seats  of  the  king  and  queen.  The  cus- 
tomary dancing  was  going  forward  in  front  of  this  seat. 
One  woman  danced  alone,  under  a  canopy  supported  by 
four  people.  Her  dancing  must  have  given  great  delight 
— though  it  was  not  very  different  from  that  of  the  negro 
ladies  which  I  have  already  described — for  all  kinds  of 
handkerchiefs  were  hanging  about  her,  and  a  hat,  even, 
had  been  placed  upon  her  head.  The  women  danced  on 
this  occasion  with  each  other,  and  the  men  with  the  men ; 
some  struck  the  doors  and  benches  with  sticks,  others  rat- 
tled gourds  filled  with  stones,  and  the  drums  thundered 
with  deafening  power.  They  were  apparently  endeavor- 
ing to  make  as  much  noise  as  possible.  While  this  was 
going  on,  a  figure  was  seen  advancing  with  a  scarlet  hat 
upon  his  head,  and  with  a  great  number  of  glittering 
strings  of  beads  round  his  neck,  arms,  and  body,  which 
was  naked  to  the  waist,  from  which  hung  scarlet  skirts. 
This  figure,  before  which  the  people  parted  to  each  side, 
approached  me,  bowing  all  the  time,  and  as  he  did  so  the 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  381 

whole  upper  portion  of  his  body  seemed  to  move  in  snake- 
like folds.  Still  making  these  serpentine  movements,  he 
stood  before  me  with  extended  hands,  I  being  not  at  all 
certain  whether  he  was  inviting  me  to  dance,  or  what  was 
the  meaning  of  his  apparently  friendly  grimaces,  and  his 
great,  black,  outstretched  hands.  At  length  he  uttered, 
with  other  words,  "per  la  bonita  /"  and  I  comprehended 
that  all  his  bowings  and  bedizenment  were  intended  as  a 
compliment  to  me,  and  I  made  my  reply  by  shaking  one 
of  the  black  hands,  and  placing  within  it  a  silver  coin, 
after  which  we  exchanged  friendly  gestures,  and  my  friend 
made  a  serpentine  retreat,  and  began  to  dance  on  his  own 
account,  receiving  great  applause  from  the  by-standers. 
A  great  number  of  negroes  were  sitting  on  the  benches, 
many  of  whose  countenances  were  earnest,  and  remarka- 
bly agreeable.  The  Luccomees  h#ve,  in  general,  beautiful 
oval  countenances,  good  foreheads  and  noses,  well-formed 
mouths,  and  the  most  beautiful  teeth.  They  look  less 
good-humored  and  gay  than  the  other  negro  tribes,  but 
have  evidently  more  character  and  intelligence.  The  na- 
tion is  regarded  as  rich,  in  consequence  of  the  great  prizes 
which  it  has  won  in  the  lottery,  and  this  wealth  it  is  said 
to  apply  to  a  good  use — the  purchasing  the  freedom  of 
slaves  of  this  tribe. 

These  cabildoes  are  governed,  as  I  have  already  said, 
by  queens,  one  or  two,  who  decide  upon  the  amusements, 
give  tone  to  the  society,  and  determine  its  extension.  They 
possess  the  right  of  electing  a  king,  who  manages  the  pe- 
cuniary affairs  of  the  society,  and  who  has  under  him  a 
secretary  and  master  of  the  ceremonies.  The  latter  pre- 
sented me  with  a  small  printed  card,  which  gave  admis- 
sion to  the  "  Cabildo  de  Senora  Santa  Barbara  de  la 
nation  Lucumi  Alagua"* 

*  The  Luccomee  nation,  like  the  other  African  tribes,  Gangas,  Con- 
goes,  &c.,  are  divided  into  many  subordinate  tribes,  with  their  various 
cognomens,  and  their  various  places  of  meeting. 


382  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

After  this,  and  when  we  had  made  a  little  offering  to 
the  treasury  of  the  society,  we  took  our  departure,  in  or- 
der to  visit  other  cabildoes.  And  in  all  cases  they  were 
so  polite  as  to  give  free  access  to  la  Signora,  la  bonita, 
and  her  companions.  I  do  not  know  whether  this  polite- 
ness is  to  be  attributed  to  the  negro  character,  or  to  the 
Spanish  influence  upon  it,  but  am  inclined  to  believe  the 
latter. 

I  was  received  in  the  Cabildo  de  Gangas  by  the  two 
queens,  two  young  and  very  pretty  black  girls,  dressed  in 
perfectly  good  French  taste,  in  pink  gauze  dresses,  and 
beautiful  bouquets  of  artificial  roses  in  their  bosoms  and 
their  hair:  they  both  smoked  cigarettes.  They  took  me 
kindly  each  by  the  hand,  seated  me  between  them,  and 
continued  to  smoke  with  Spanish  gravity.  One  of  them 
had  the  very  loveliest  eyes  imaginable,  both  in  form  and 
expression.  On  the  wall  opposite  to  us  was  a  large  and 
well-painted  leopard,  probably  the  symbol  of  the  nation. 
There  were  also  some  Catholic  pictures  and  symbols  in 
the  hall.  I  here  saw  a  whole  group  of  women  moving 
in  a  kind  of  dance,  like  galvanized  frogs,  but  with  slower 
action,  bowing  and  twisting  their  bodies  and  all  their 
joints  without  any  meaning  or  purpose  that  I  could  dis- 
cover. It  seemed  to  be  the  expression  of  some  kind  of 
animal  satisfaction ;  it  had  also  the  appearance  as  if  they 
were  seeking  for  something  in  the  dark.  And  the  poor 
benighted  people  may  be  said  to  be  still  seeking — their 
true  life's  joy,  their  life  beyond  that  of  Nature. 

They  seem,  however,  to  have  approached  nearer  to  this 
in  the  States  of  North  America.  I  thought  of  that  noc- 
turnal camp-meeting  in  the  forest,  by  the  light  of  the  fire- 
altars,  and  of  the  melodious  hymns  which  sounded  from 
the  camp  of  the  negroes ! 

I  saw  in  another  Cabildo  de  Gangas  that  same  irreg- 
ular, serpentine  dance,  danced  in  circles  and  rows  both  by 
men  and  women  around  one  another.     I  saw  again,  also, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  383 

in  a  Cabildo  de  Congos,  the  Congo  dance,  as  I  had  seen 
it  in  the  bohea  at  St.  Amelia,  and  another  which  seemed 
to  be  a  mixture  of  the  Spanish-Creole  dance,  Yuca  and 
Congo  dance.  There  is  considerably  more  animation  in 
the  latter  dances  than  in  the  former,  as  well  as  more  art 
and  poetical  feeling.  The  symbol  painted  upon  the  wall 
of  this  room  was  a  sun  with  a  human  face.  Here  also 
were  several  Christian  symbols  and  pictures.  But  even 
here,  also,  the  Christianized  and  truly  Christian  Africans 
retain  somewhat  of  the  superstition  and  idolatry  of  their 
native  land.  The  Congo  and  Granga  nations  seem  to  me 
born  of  a  more  careless  temperament,  and  have  a  more 
animal  appearance  than  the  Luccomees. 

I  visited  two  other  cabildoes,  but  did  not  find  any  new 
features  of  interest,  and,  finally,  I  was  heartily  wearied  by 
the  noise,  and  the  rattling,  and  the  bustle,  and  the  dust, 
and  the  chaotic  disorder  in  the  dancing,  and  in  the  move- 
ments of  their  assemblies.  I  longed  for  pure  air  and  clear 
water,  and,  to  gratify  my  longing,  Mr.  F.  drove  me  in  his 
volante  to  Havana  harbor. 

It  was  sunset.  We  inquired  for  our  friend,  the  boat- 
man of  the  former  evening,  Rafael  Hernandez,  who  soon 
made  his  appearance  with  his  splendid  boat,  La  Leonora 
Rosita,  and  rowed  us  out  into  the  harbor. 

Ah !  how  beautiful,  in  that  tranquil,  resplendent  even- 
ing, to  row  softly  along  that  palm-decorated  shore,  and 
silently  to  inhale  the  pure  air,  and  to  contemplate  the 
soft,  clear  coloring  of  every  object.  The  glowing  blush 
of  evening  tinged  all.  Presently  the  lamps  were  lighted 
on  the  quay  la  Alameda  di  Paula,  and  other  places  along 
the  harbor.  These  lit  up  the  shore  and  the  water  with  a 
wonderfully  pure  and  clear  splendor.  It  seems  to  me  as 
if  light  and  air  here  possessed  sound  and  melody ;  I  hear, 
as  it  were,  their  purity,  while  it  strikes  upon  my  eye. 
And  now  I  felt  as  if  I  had  come  out  of  chaos  into  the 
world  of  pure  light  and  harmony.     But,  of  a  truth,  what 


384  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

ball-room  would  not  have  seemed  to  me  dusty  and  stifling 
when  compared  with  this  rotunda  of  nature  beneath  the 
heaven  of  Cuba. 

I  asked  our  boatman — who  spoke  English  as  well  as 
Spanish — whether  he  was  satisfied  with  his  condition  in 
life.  He  shook  his  head:  "  Things  were  going  dreadfully 
with  him ;  he  should  find  himself  compelled  some  fine 
morning  to  run  away  from  both  boat  and  city." 

"  You  smoke  too  many  cigarettes,  Hernandez!"  said  I. 

"Only  twenty  a  day,  signora!"  said  he,  and  shrugged 
his  shoulders. 

April  22d.  Grood-morning,  my  beloved  child :  I  get  on 
charmingly  now  at  the  hotel.  I  have  full  freedom,  have 
every  thing  excellent,  and  the  good  Mrs.  Mary  does  not  let 
me  want  for  any  thing.  Early  in  the  morning  I  go  out 
to  walk  on  my  favorite  Cortina;  watch  the  waves  break- 
ing against  the  rocks  of  the  Moro  ;  inhale  the  sea-breezes  ; 
converse  with  the  naiads  ;  visit  a  church  or  two ;  look  at 
the  pomp  there  ;  listen  to  the  music  ;  then  go  home  across 
La  Plaza  des.  Armas,  where  I  linger  a  while  to  study  the 
monument  to  Columbus,  which  I  afterward  at  home  sketch 
into  my  book  ;  but  I  am  obliged  to  make  my  observations 
very  warily,  for  the  military  on  the  Square  are  already 
beginning  to  watch  me.  They  suspect  that  I  am  plotting 
an  invasion. 

Late  in  the  evening  I  walk  about  on  the.azotea  among 
the  urns,  and  watch  the  moon  and  the  Moro  light  emu- 
lating each  other  in  lighting  up  the  city  and  the  sea,  and 
watch  the  Southern  Cross  rise  in  quiet  majesty  above  the 
horizon,  while  toward  the  northern  star,  which  shows  out 
at  sea,  I  always  cast  a  friendly  glancp.  The  roar  of  the 
sea  comes  to  me  from  the  side  of  the  Moro,  and  the  gay 
sound  of  military  music  from  La  Plaza  des  Armas.  Later 
in  the  night,  the  harmonious  air  and  sounds  are  broken 
in  upon  by  the  Serenos,  or  fire-watchmen  of  Havana,  who 
sing  so — that  it  really  would  be  deplorable  if  it  were  not 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  335 

so  extremely  ludicrous.  I  never  before  heard  such  a  suc- 
cession of  false,  jaw-breaking,  inharmonious  tones.  I  can 
not  get  angry  with  them  for  laughing. 

I  go  to  my  friends,  the  F.'s,  generally  for  an  hour  every 
morning,  to  paint  the  portrait  of  Mrs.  F.,  which  I  wish  to 
possess,  in  memory  of  one  of  the  best,  most  motherly  wom- 
en in  the  world. 

While  I  am  thus  occupied,  she  tells  me  the  experience 
of  her  lifetime  as  regards  the  negro  character.  Her  ob- 
servations agree  in  the  main  with  those  of  Mrs.  P.  Mrs. 
F.  says,  as  she  does,  "  that  there  is  a  great  difference  in 
the  characters  and  tempers  of  the  negroes,  as  is  the  case 
among  the  white  races,  but  that  they  are,  in  general,  more 
accessible  than  these  to  the  sentiment  of  attachment,  of 
tenderness,  and  gratitude.  The  whites  make  a  great  mis- 
take when  they  accuse  the  negroes  of  ingratitude.  They 
make  them  slaves,  they  demand  incessant  labor  from 
them,  and  require  after  that  that  they  should  be  grate- 
ful. Grateful  for  what  ?  They  who  wish  really  to  be 
the  negro's  friend  will  find  him  grateful  and  noble-mind- 
ed. I  have  had  both  black  and  white  nurses  for  my 
children,  but  with  the  black  only  have  I  been  perfectly 
satisfied." 

An  affecting  proof  of  love  and  strength  of  character 
among  the  negroes  was  related  to  me,  in  the  history  of  a 
young  negro  couple  who  loved  each  other,  without  being 
able  to  marry,  because  the  master  of  the  young  negro 
woman  obstinately  refused  to  consent  to  her  marriage. 
Love,  however,  had  had  its  way,  and  the  young  lovers  had 
a  child.  The  master  of  the  negro  woman,  in  a  fury  of 
anger  at  this  discovery,  forbade,  her  again  to  see  the  young 
man,  or  he  to  see  his  child.  The  young  negro  was  in  serv- 
ice at  Mrs.  F.'s ;  he  was  an  excellent  young  man,  with  one 
only  fault — he  loved  liquor,  and  not  unfrequently  allow- 
ed himself  to  be  overcome  by  it;  and  this  propensity  in- 
creased all  the  more,  now  that  the  sorrow  of  not  being 

Vol.  II— R 


386  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

able  to  see  his  wife  and  little  boy  often  almost  drove  him 
to  despair.     Mrs.  F.  said  to  him, 

"  If  you  will  break  yourself  of  this  habit  of  strong 
drink,  I  will  allow  you  a  peso  a  week,  and  lay  the  money 
by  for  you,  and  with  it  you  may,  in  time,  buy  the  freedom 
of  your  child." 

From  this  moment  the  man  became  perfectly  sober,  and 
persevered  in  being  so  for  many  months.  After  this  time 
of  trial,  Mrs.  F.  paid  him  the  money  which  she  had  prom- 
ised, and  added  to  it,  in  order,  said  she,  to  show  him  her 
esteem  and  satisfaction,  as  much  more  as  was  necessary 
to  purchase  the  freedom  of  the  child.  He  kissed  her  hand 
with  joy  and  tears  of  gratitude;  he  was  beside  himself 
with  happiness,  and  with  the  prospect  which  was  afforded 
him  of  sometime  being  able  to  purchase  the  freedom  of 
the  child's  mother  also,  and  being  united  to  her.  This 
was  now  in  progress  of  accomplishment.  In  the  mean 
time,  the  parents  and  the  child  had  secret  meetings,  and 
their  love  was  as  heartfelt,  as  romantically  warm  and 
steadfast  as  that  which  any  novel-writer  describes  be- 
tween his  heroes  and  heroines. 

Mrs.  F.  confirmed  all  that  I  had  already  heard  of  the 
kindness  of  the  Spanish  masters  to  their  domestic  slaves, 
and  the  care  which  they  take  of  them  in  their  old  age. 

But  if  the  domestic  slaves  are  commonly  well  treated, 
the  slaves  on  the  plantations  are,  in  a  general  way,  quite 
the  reverse;  they  are  looked  upon,  not.  as  human  beings, 
but  as  beasts  of  burden,  and  are  treated  with  greater  se- 
verity than  these. 

The  house  of  the  F.'s  is  now  altogether  full  of  love, 
music,  and  mirth.  Young  Louisa  F.  is  married,  and  will, 
although  still  hardly  more  than  a  child,  now  become  mis- 
tress of  her  own  household. 

I  have  been  sorely  tempted  just  now  by  a  journey  to 
Jamaica  and  thence  to  Mexico,  which  would  have  been 
by  no  means  difficult  of  accomplishment.     But  time  and 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  3S7 

— besides,  I  should  not  in  Jamaica,  in  Central  America, 
nor  yet  in  South  America,  see  any  thing  essentially  dif- 
ferent in  vegetation,  population,  manners,  mode  of  build- 
ing, or  in  any  other  way  different  to  what  I  see  in  Cuba, 
under  the  tropical  heavens  and  the  dominion  of  the  Span- 
iards. And  this  was  essential  to  me  for  my  picture  of  the 
New  World.  I  have  now  received  a  clear  impression  of 
its  southern  hemisphere.  Books  and  engravings  will  help 
me  to  see  the  difference. 

And  that  they  already  do.  I  have  seen  at  Mr.  F.'s  en- 
gravings of  Mexico  and  other  cities  of  Spanish  America, 
which  seem  to  me  merely  repetitions  of  Havana.  And 
in  Prescott's  excellent  history  of  the  conquest  of  Mexico 
and  Peru  I  have  become  acquainted  with  the  highlands 
of  these  countries,  as  well  as  with  the  noble  Aztecs  who 
once  dwelt  there. 

Christian  Aztecs  must  one  day  rule  over  these  glorious 
countries,  and  upon  their  noble  heathen  foundation  erect 
a  new  temple,  a  new  community,  which  shall,  in  spirit  and 
in  truth,  make  them  the  highlands  of  the  world. 

I  have  beheld  the  countenance  of  the  earth  beneath  the 
sun's  warmest  beams,  where  they  call  forth  palms  and  cof- 
fee-shrubs. I  know  the  circumstances  of  every-day  human 
life  there,  its  pleasures  and  its  miseries.  I  have  compre- 
hended this  new  page  in  the  book  of  creation  and  the  life 
of  nature.  I  have  enjoyed  and  been  grateful.  And  after 
two  weeks'  longer  stay  in  Cuba,  to  see  Madame  C.  and  the 
paradisiacal  regions  of  the  CafTetal  to  the  east  of  Havana, 
I  shall  turn  from  the  tropics  and  the  palms  once  more  to- 
ward the  United  States,  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  months 
hope  to  see  again  Sweden,  you,  and  all  my  dear  ones.  Be- 
lieve me,  the  home  of  the  pine-tree  is  my  home,  dearer  to 
me  than  the  palm-groves  here.  Here  I  could  not  live, 
after  all! 


388  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 


LETTER    XXXYI. 

San  Antonio  de  los  Bagnos,  April  23. 

Abroad  on  an  adventure  in  foreign  lands,  my  dear  heart, 
and  for  the  moment  not  of  the  most  agreeable  kind  ;  I  am 
here,  all  alone,  in  a  little  Spanish  posada  orfonda  (a  third- 
rate  public  house),  as  uncomfortable  as  possible,  surround- 
ed by  people  who  do  not  understand  me,  and  whom  I  do 
not  understand  either.  I  am  here  awaiting  the  arrival  of 
a  volante  from  Signora  C,  which  is  to  take  me  to  her  plan- 
tation, about  five  English  miles  from  this  place.  Possibly, 
however,  she  may  not  yet  have  received  the  letter  which 
announced  my  arrival  here,  and  the  volante,  in  that  case, 
may  not  come  for  a  day  or  two,  and  I,  in  the  mean  time, 
shall  have  to  stop  here ;  but  I  am  neither  uneasy  nor  in 
want  of  food,  for  my  little  traveling  fairy  is  with  me,  and 
keeps  me  in  capital  humor,  and  has  enabled  me  to  fall  in 
with  a  little  Spanish  Don  on  the  rail-way,  who  could  speak 
a  little  French,  and  who  was  delighted  to  be  of  service  to 
me.  With  his  help,  and  my  Spanish  phrase-book  and  dic- 
tionary, I  manage  very  well.  And  besides,  I  have  sent  off 
a  letter  of  introduction,  which  I  had  with  me,  to  Don  II- 
dephonso  Miranda,  who  lives  not  far  from  here,  "  in  su  Caf- 
fetal  en  Alguizar"  and  I  expect  to  see  him  in  the  course 
of  the  day,  and  with  his  assistance  I  shall  be  able  to  get 
out  of  my  fonda,  for  he  speaks  French  like  a  native,  I  am 
told,  and  is,  besides,  a  caballero  perfetto. 

I  am  now  writing  to  you  in  a  little  room  with  bare 
whitewashed  walls  and  earthen  floor,  the  only  furniture 
of  which  is  one  wooden  chair  and  a  wooden  table,  and 
with  the  wind  blowing  with  all  its  might  in  through  the 
window.  But  here  it  is  the  warm  wind  of  Cuba,  and  one 
can  not  be  angry  with  it. 

My  journey  this  morning  by  the  rail- way  was  glorious, 
like  another  morning  journey  which  I  made  some  weeks 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  389 

since,  and  the  palms  and  splendid  flowers  of  the  caffetals 
shone  out  the  whole  length  of  the  way.  The  whole  of 
this  side  of  the  island  is  celebrated  for  the  beauty  of  its 
coffee  plantations,  the  most  splendid  days  of  which  are 
now  over,  as  they  are  not  able  to  produce  coffee  in  the 
same  quantity  and  of  the  same  excellent  quality  as  the 
more  southern  plantations  of  the  island,  and  are,  in  conse- 
quence, somewhat  on  the  decline.  San  Antonio  de  los 
Bagnos  is  a  small  city  or  town,  celebrated  for  its  baths, 
and  for  the  beautiful  mountain  scenery  of  its  neighbor- 
hood. Plantations  lie  scattered  among  these  hills,  where 
the  heat  is  never  extreme,  where  the  sea-breezes  contin- 
ually blow,  and  the  grass  is  green  the  year  round  ;  airy 
habitations  are  these,  with  splendid  views  over  the  vast 
sea.  San  Antonio  is  further  celebrated  for  a  subterranean 
river,  which  I  shall  go  out  and  endeavor  to  discover  for 
myself.  I  have  dismissed  the  guide  whonrmy  friend  Don 
Manuel  obtained  for  me,  saying  that  he  was  a  coquin,  and 
who  appeared  to  me  to  be  such  in  so  high  a  degree,  that 
I  considered  him  quite  capable  of  pitching  me  down  into 
the  subterranean  river  which  I  was  going  to  see.  I  ex- 
cused myself,  therefore,  on  the  plea  of  el  vento.  It  blows 
so  into  my  room  that  I  can  not  write  any  more.  The  pa- 
per is  in  a  perpetual  flutter. 

Caffetal  la  Concordia,  April  27th. 

I  have  had,  since  I  last  wrote,  various  small  uneasiness- 
es and  misadventures,  but  all  of  which  turned  out  for  the 
best,  and  I  now  write  to  you  from  Madame  C.'s  beautiful 
coffee  plantation,  where  I  am  staying  amid  the  most  de- 
lightful tranquillity  and  cheerfulness  of  her  lovely  family. 

I  spent  the  day  quite  alone  at  San  Antonio  in  my  little 
posada.  My  room,  however,  although  naked  and  bare  of 
furniture,  was  clean,  and  Raimund,  the  servant  of  the 
house,  was  very  respectful  and  kind,  and  began  by  de- 
grees, out  of  pure  good-will,  I  believe,  to  understand  me, 
and  if  I  had  not  been  left  alone  in  this  posada  for  a  time ; 


390  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

and  if  these  little  adverse  circumstances  had  not  occurred, 
I  should  not  have  made  acquaintance  with  San  Antonio 
de  los  Bagnos,  as  I  have  now  done,  and  that  would  have 
been  a  great  pity. 

When  I  had  dined  on  some  excellent  boiled  beef  and 
yams,  and  the  day  began  to  grow  cool,  I  set  out  on  a  sol- 
itary ramble,  having  long  since  become  hardened  against 
the  wondering  glances  of  the  screaming  and  skipping  ne- 
gro children,  who  always  follow  me  at  first  when  I  go  out 
alone. 

Some  palm-thatched  huts,  standing  in  a  plantation- 
grove  at  a  little  distance  from  the  posada,  attracted  me, 
because  I  presumed  them  to  be  the  dwellings  of  negroes  ; 
and  I  was  not  deceived  in  this  respect.  I  soon  found 
myself  wandering  in  a  small  irregular  town,  through 
streets  of  birch-bark  and  brushwood  cottages,  surrounded 
with  little  gardens,  and  the  beautiful  trees  and  vegetation 
of  the  country.  Cocoa-palms  and  bananas  grow  on  all 
hands,  and  on  all  hands  mightbe  seen,  beneath  them, 
stark-naked  negro  children  leaping  and  playing  about ; 
negro  women  were  at  work,  or  were  standing  at  the  doors 
of  the  cottages.  I  found  myself  evidently  in  an  African 
region. 

11  Bon  jour,  Madame"  sounded  toward  me  from  one  of 
the  huts,  and,  turning  round,  I  beheld  a  stout  and  well- 
dressed  negro  woman  standing  at  her  door,  who  looked 
like  a  personified  invitation.  I  accepted  it,  glad  to  have 
an  opportunity  of  talking  with  some  of  the  people  ;  and 
on  entering  the  cottage,  which  was  spacious,  I  found  her 
one  of  the  very  nicest,  kindest,  most  cheerful  old  negro 
women  that  one  can  imagine.  Every  thing  also  in  and 
about  the  cottage  was  clean  and  orderly,  bed-room,  kitch- 
en, and  garden,  and  the  old  woman  took  me  to  see  ev- 
erything, laughing  with  all  her  might  at  every  ques- 
tion which  I  asked  or  observation  which  I  made.  She 
was  born  in   St.  Domingo,  and  had   been  servant  in  a 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  39 1 

French  family  there  before  the  revolution  on  the  island. 
She  expressed  herself  very  imperfectly  in  French,  but 
nevertheless  gave  me  a  deal  of  information  regarding  the 
condition  of  the  negroes  in  the  little  town.  They  seemed 
to  be  happy  and  contented  ;  supported  themselves  on  their 
small  allotments  of  land  and  by  their  animals,  as  well  as 
by  doing  work  of  various  kinds  for  the  people  of  the  city. 
She  herself  took  in  washing,  and  was  well  contented  with 
her  world.  At  the  present  moment  she  was  enjoying  a 
dolce  far  niente,  and  so  also  was  her  husband,  who  could 
not  speak  any  other  language  than  Spanish,  and  therefore 
did  not  take  part  in  our  conversation,  but  sat  and  smoked 
his  cigar  with  an  expression  of  the  most  cordial  good-na- 
ture and  contentment.  When  I  saw  some  banana-trees 
in  the  garden  (which  was  not  remarkably  well  kept),  I 
asked  her  whether  she  ate  bananas  at  breakfast.  This  in- 
quiry seemed  to  be  inconceivably  entertaining,  and,  al- 
most choking  with  laughter,  she  said  she  must  have  roast- 
ed meat  and  coffee  at  breakfast,  but  that  her  husband  ate 
roasted  bananas. 

Wishing  that  happy  old  couple  a  long  life  in  their  cot- 
tage, I  went  on  my  way,  and  every  step  increased  my  de- 
light at  the  irregular,  but  poetical  and  picturesque  scene 
which  San  Antonio  de  los  Bagnos  presented  to  my  view. 

Imagine  ruins  of  old,  lofty  walls  and  porticoes  covered 
with  fresco-paintings,  among  small  white  or  gayly  tinted 
Cuban  houses  and  small  palm-thatched  negro  huts,  all 
standing  in  picturesque  confusion  ;  a  deep  but  narrow 
river,  as  clear  as  crystal,  its  banks  overgrown  with  shad- 
owy trees,  among  which  stand  negro  huts,  with  their 
palm-leaf  roofs,  and  over  these,  bending  down  from  the 
sloping  banks,  bananas  and  bamboo-trees,  and  all  around 
bushes  covered  with  red  and  yellow  flowers ;  in  the  river 
imagine  boys  bathing  and  gamboling  about,  and  old  stone 
and  wooden  bridges  spanning  it,  with  their  pointed  pil- 
lars and  buttresses;  and  majorats  riding  over  the  bridges 


392  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD, 

with  pistols  at  their  saddle-bows,  and  swords  with  silver 
hilts  by  their  sides  ;  and  here  and  there,  upon  the  verdant 
banks  of  the  river,  or  beneath  cocoa  and  bamboo  trees,  in 
gardens,  or  beside  the  old  porticoes  and  the  ruined  walls, 
groups  of  olive-complexioned  or  white  women,  for  the  most 
part  young  and  handsome,  some  smoking  cigarettes,  oth- 
ers with  white  flowers  in  their  hair,  commonly  acknowl- 
edging the  salutation  of  the  passer-by  with  graceful  in- 
clinations of  the  head,  and  a  melodious  "  Buono  tarde, 
Signora!"  and  here  and  there  groups  of  lightly-clad  peo- 
ple, jolly  negro  men  and  women,  and  stark-naked  negro 
children,  carrying  themselves  like  regular  little  savages; 
white  men  sitting  on  the  stone  walls,  or  wandering  slowly 
along,  smoking  cigars;  and  over  all  this  that  mild  trop- 
ical sky,  that  delicious  air,  a  soft  but  joyous  light — a 
slumberous,  joy-giving,  far  niente  life — and  you  see  an 
outline  of  the  panorama  which  I  contemplated  wandering 
hither  and  thither,  until  the  shades  of  evening  advanced, 
and  stars  came  forth  on  the  scene. 

Again  in  my  fonda,  I  prepared  myself  for  the  night. 
I  had  a  neat  little  bed  with  clean  sheets  and  a  light  cov- 
erlet. I  obtained  a  cup  of  weak  tea,  some  bread,  and  a 
night-lamp,  my  friend  Raimund  devoting  himself  to  me 
with  the  utmost  respect  and  gravity.  I  was  now  alone ; 
and  the  sound  of  a  guitar,  accompanied  by  a  tremulous, 
monotonous,  but  pleasingly  melancholy  song,  similar  in 
character  to  the  Spanish  seguidilla,  reached  me,  and  to 
the  sound  of  this  I  fell  asleep  on  my  cool  sacking  bed, 
and  passed  an  excellent  night,  undisturbed  by  the  blood- 
thirsty robbers  that  I  feared — gnats  and  fleas. 

When  I  woke  next  morning,  I  saw  the  respectful  face 
of  my  friend  Raimund  at  my  low  window,  come  to  in- 
quire if  I  wished  for  any  thing.  I  wished  for  coffee  and 
an  egg;  and  while  I  was  thus  breakfasting,  La  Miranda 
was  announced  in  such  a  manner  as  showed  that  he  was 
regarded  as  a  power  of  the  first  rank. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  393 

And  before  long,  I  was  prepared  to  receive  Don  Ilde- 
phonso  Miranda,  which  I  did  in  a  room  adjoining  mine, 
and  of  the  same  unpretending  character. 

Don  Ildephonso  Miranda  whistled  to  the  people  of  the 
posada,*  and  they  flew  forward  to  receive  his  commands ; 
he  motioned  with  his  hands,  and  they  flew  to  all  distan- 
ces to  fulfill  them. 

As  for  myself,  La  Miranda  was  really  en  caballero  per- 
fetto,  infinitely  polite  in  tone  and  mannner ;  he  allowed 
me  the  use  of  his  volante  and  his  calashero  to  convey  me 
to  Madame  C.'s;  breakfasted  with  me;  arranged  every 
thing  as  I  wished ;  and  when  I  was  about  to  set  off,  and 
inquired  for  my  bill  at  the  posada,  it  was  already  paid 
by  La  Miranda !  It  would  have  been  no  use  protesting 
against  it,  neither  would  it  have  been  becoming ;  I  treat- 
ed it,  therefore,  as  unimportant,  and  thanked  him,  with 
a  compliment  on  the  politeness  of  the  Spaniards.  This 
politeness  is  really  great  toward  ladies  and  foreigners, 
and  must  be  founded  on  a  certain  national  pride,  which, 
at  the  bottom,  is  noble  and  beautiful. 

I  drove  to  the  residence  of  Madame  C,  the  Caffetal  la 
Concordia,  in  Don  Ildephonso's  volante  and  in  a  tropical 
hot  wind,  which  raised  all  the  red  dust  on  the  road  in  a 
whirlwind;  and  in  that  flying  career,  and  through  the 
cloud  of  red  dust,  I  could  merely  see,  in  passing,  the  beau- 
tiful palms  and  the  brilliant  flowers  of  the  caffetals,  gleam- 
ing above  the  stone  walls  which  bounded  either  side  of 
the  way. 

Madame  C.  was  not  at  home  on  her  plantation ;  she 
was  away  at  the  sea,  on  the  southern  side  of  the  island, 
for  the  sake  of  bathing,  together  with  her  sons  and  grand- 
children ;  and  it  was  not  until  this  morning  that  she  would 

*  Whistling  to  people  of  the  servant-class  is  customary  in  Cuba,  and 
they  make  use  of  it  also  among  themselves.  The  sound  is,  however, 
rather  a  hissing  than  a  whistling  sound,  like  a  sharp  "  H !"  and  is  audi- 
ble at  a  considerable  distance. 

R2 


394  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

be  able  to  receive  mine  and  her  son's  letters.  But  the 
steward  on  the  plantation,  Don  Felix,  a  polite,  elderly  gen- 
tleman, received  me  with  Spanish  courtesy,  and  said, 

"  Toute  la  maison  est  a  voire  disposition  !  Vous  etes 
chez  vous.  Desposez  de  tout.  La  maison  est  a  vous.  Ce 
n'est  pas  un  compliment  /" 

We  dined  together,  the  polite  old  gentleman  and  my- 
self. Don  Felix  spoke  of  Madame  C.  with  an  expression 
of  worship. 

"  Oh,  c'est  une  dame,  une  dame,  comme  il  y  en  a  peu  /" 

Trinidad,  a  kind  negro  woman  with  lovely  eyes,  and 
who  speaks  a  little  French,  is  my  femme  de  chambre,  and 
I  slept  that  night  at  this  place.  The  next  morning  brought 
a  letter  from  Madame  C,  inviting  me  to  join  her  at  the 
sea-coast,  arranging  all  for  my  coming,  and  appointing  as 
my  companion  the  very  dearest  of  all  handsome  and  grace- 
ful boys,  Adolpho  S.,  twelve  years  old,  Madame  C.'s  eldest 
grandson. 

We  set  off.  It  was  an  arduous  journey  in  the  com- 
mencement, through  a  perfect  wilderness,  over  stocks  and 
stones ;  then  in  a  boat,  drawn  by  men  along  a  narrow 
stream,  almost  choked  up  with  reeds  and  different  kinds 
of  water-plants.  It  was  horribly  wearisome  and  horribly 
hot.  My  little  dark-eyed  cabellero,  the  sweet  lad,  en- 
couraged and  comforted  me :  "  It  will  soon  be  better,"  said 
he;  "we  have  got  over  the  worst  now!  We  shall  very 
soon  come  into  more  open  water!"  The  amiable  little 
fellow  was  really  a  refreshment  to  me  on  this  part  of  the 
journey,  which  occupied  three  mortal  hours;  the  water, 
after  that,  expanded  into  a  little  river,  and  we  felt  the 
breezes  from  the  sea.  At  the  outlet  of  the  little  river  into 
the  sea  a  few  small  birch-bark  huts,  regular  fishers'  huts, 
stood  upon  the  bare  turf;  here  dwelt  the  aristocratic  fam- 
ily, and  lived  a  kind  of  field-life  for  some  weeks  for  the 
sake  of  the  bathing. 

Madame  C.  had  just  now  returned  from  the  bath.    How 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  395 

handsome  and  charming  she  appeared  as  she  advanced 
toward  me  in  her  long  white  costume,  with  her  mild,  pale 
countenance,  her  nohle  bearing,  her  beautiful  manner. 
She  seemed  to  be  between  fifty  and  sixty,  and  the  most 
refined  womanly  grace  was  impressed  on  face  and  form. 
Around  the  beautiful  lady  stood  two  young,  tall,  hand- 
some men,  her  two  youngest  sons,  Alfred  and  Sidney  S., 
and  a  handsome  Spanish  lady,  the  wife  of  the  eldest,  and 
their  six  children,  four  boys  and  two  girls,  all  handsome ; 
and  in  the  outskirts  of  this  beautiful  group,  negro  men, 
and  women,  and  dogs. 

A  cottage  on  the  other  side  of  the  little  river,  and  op- 
posite that  of  Madame  C.'s,  is  prepared  for  me.  I  shall 
be  there  quite  alone,  and  the  excellent  lady  has  made  it 
as  comfortable  as  it  can  be,  with  a  bed,  a  chair,  and  a 
table.  The  wind  blows  straight  through  its  walls  of 
brushwood,  on  the  side  facing  the  sea,  but  then  it  is  the 
wind  of  Cuba.  There  are  no  trees  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood — nothing  but  swampy,  low  meadow,  and 
beyond  that  the  great  sea,  which  extends,  unbroken  by 
rocks,  into  limitless  distance.  We  are  here  on  the  south- 
ern side  of  the  island,  in  a  desolate  region,  inhabited  alone 
by  poor  fishermen,  for  whom  Madame  C.'s  residence  among 
them  makes  the  red-letter  days  of  the  year.  The  whole 
has  the  charm  of  novelty,  and  may  do  for  a  few  days.  I 
am  almost  sorry  that  I  have  come  here,  because  I  fear 
that  I  have  caused  a  deal  of  inconvenience  to  the  sea- 
bathing family.  They  are,  however,  too  polite  to  wish  me 
to  perceive  it,  and  I  have  determined  to  be  contented  with 
every  thing ;  and  that  is  not  difficult  in  this  air.  We  fared 
sumptuously  at  a  small  table  on  the  piazza  of  Madame  C.'s 
palm-hut,  and  afterward  sat  talking  by  star-light  in  the 
mild  sea-wind,  as  I  have  not  talked  for  a  long  time,  on 
interesting  periods  in  history — in  Swedish  history  among 
the  rest,  for  this  intellectual  lady  and  her  well-educated 
sons  are  perfectly  acquainted  with  its  main  features. 


396  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

It  was  near  midnight  when,  with  the  aid  of  a  faithful 
old  servant,  I  reached  the  other  side  of  the  river  hy  means 
of  a  crazy  old  hridge ;  it  blew  strongly  from  the  sea,  and 
the  waves  roared  very  much.  The  Southern  Cross,  with 
its  glory  of  Centaur's  stars,  and  the  magnificent  star  in 
the  ship  Argo,  Canopus,  stood  bright  above  the  sea  in 
the  southern  heavens;  I  greeted  them,  and  crept  into  my 
hut.  The  light  was  blown  out;  but  the  stars  peeped  in 
through  the  opening  of  the  window  which  faced  the  sea. 
The  curtain  of  the  bed  fanned  and  fluttered  about  in  the 
wind ;  but  it  was  the  wind  of  Cuba.  I  lay  down  in  my 
bed  with  it  whistling  round  me,  and  though  I  did  not  sleep 
much,  yet  still  enjoyed  an  unspeakable  pleasure,  as  if 
borne  upward  by  the  wings  of  the  wind,  and  by  the  fresh, 
gentle  spirit  of  the  sea.  I  did  not  seem  to  be  conscious 
of  my  physical  being ;  I  felt,  as  it  were,  changed  into 
spirit. 

The  next  morning  the  scene  presented  a  serious  aspect. 
The  heaven  was  clear;  but  the  night-wind  had  driven 
the  sea  inland,  and  still  continued  to  blow  with  the  same 
force ;  the  river  swelled,  and  overflowed  its  banks  and  the 
land  round  our  huts ;  one  pool  of  water  was  brought  into 
communication  with  another,  and  the  pools  all  ran  to- 
gether into  small  lakes.  It  was  no  longer  possible  to 
walk  from  one  hut  to  another;  we  paddled  about  like 
ducks  in  the  water.     The  family  began  to  be  alarmed. 

"  If  the  wind  continues  in  this  direction,  we  shall  be 
surrounded  with  water  in  the  morning !" 

The  wind  did  blow  from  that  quarter.  It  was  now  im- 
possible to  pass  from  one  hut  to  another,  excepting  with 
boats ;  the  water  had  risen  as  high  as  Madame  C.'s  piaz- 
za.    We  could  no  longer  go  out. 

"  Ce  rtest  pas  vivre  iciP 

And  they  came  to  the  hasty  resolution  of  leaving  La 
Play  a,  and  returning  every  one  of  them  to  La  Concordia 
next  morning.     The  eldest  son  and  all  the  children  were 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  •        397 

ill.  The  remainder  of  the  family  and  I  sat  and  talked 
together  cheerfully  enough  in  the  evening  till  half  past 
ten,  when  I,  in  storm  and  darkness,  partly  splashing,  and 
partly  leaping  through  water,  reached  my  cottage,  where, 
with  the  storm  roaring  round  me,  and  amid  showers  of 
rain,  I  still  passed  a  very  good  night. 

The  next  morning  the  camp  broke  up,  and  we  returned 
to  the  caffetal  by  the  same  narrow  brook  which  we  had 
before  traversed  to  reach  La  Pldya.  In  the  crowded 
space,  the  heat  and  inconvenience  of  all  kinds,  I  felt  a 
sort  of  silent  despair  in  being  obliged  to  increase  the  gen- 
eral discomfort,  though  by  only  one  individual  additional 
presence ;  and  I  was  at  the  same  time  filled  with  admira- 
tion of  the  amiable  old  lady,  who,  though  herself  very  un- 
well, yet  endeavored  to  shelter  under  her  parasol  as  many 
of  the  young  ones  as  she  could  from  the  heat,  and  to  save 
my  legs  by  theirs.  The  youngest  Bambino  screamed  the 
whole  half  of  the  way.  At  length,  wearied  out,  and  in  a 
very  deplorable  condition,  we  reached  the  caffetal. 

But  we  recovered  ourselves  ;  and  in  the  evening  we  sat 
out  on  the  beautiful  piazza,  and  saw  the  brilliant  cuculios 
floating  through  the  air,  and  listened  to  Spanish  segui- 
dillas,  which  Alfredo  S.,  who  is  romantically  handsome, 
sang  to  the  guitar  with  a  beautiful  voice,  and  the  utmost 
feeling  and  expression,  so  that  it  did  one's  soul  good  to 
hear  him.  How  different  is  the  same  song  when  sung 
with  or  without  soul !  These  Spanish  seguidillas,  the  pe- 
culiar national  songs  of  Spain,  have  also  its  peculiar  na- 
tional spirit,  which  breathes  from  them  with  indescriba- 
ble freshness  and  nature.  One^ecognizes  in  them  the 
inspiration  of  a  youthful  primeval  life.  They  have  this 
in  common  with  our  popular  songs,  however  different  they 
may  be  from  them  in  temperament  and  character.  Our 
melodies  are  deeper  and  richer,  but  there  is  more  sunshine 
in  theirs,  and  a  more  joyous  and  a  warmer  life. 


398  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

La  Concordia,  May  1st. 

Again  I  bless  (rod  that  he  enables  me  in  Madame  C, 
the  proprietor  of  this  plantation,  to  be  acquainted  with 
and  to  love  one  of  those  beautiful  maternal  women,  who 
are  a  blessing  in  all  the  countries  of  the  world,  and  who 
are  able,  at  least  for  a  moment,  to  remove  even  from 
slavery  its  oppressive  fetters,  and  to  allow  the  slaves  to 
forget  them. 

This  was  very  soon  evident  to  me  from  the  apparent 
joy  of  the  negro  people  in  her  return  to  the  plantation, 
and  from  the  beaming  countenances  which  met  her,  and 
replied  to  her  joyous,  cordial  salutation  ;  and  each  passing 
day  only  makes  this  the  more  clear,  as  I  silently  observe 
the  motherly  spirit  which  induces  her  to  visit  the  sick 
among  the  slaves  herself,  to  send  them  the  food,  or  allow 
them  the  little  indulgence  which  they  have  wished  for ; 
as  I  have  seen  how,  daily,  on  the  piazza,  her  chair  is 
surrounded  by  dozens  of  little  negro  children,  who  sit  or 
creep  at  her  feet,  leap  and  play  with  «ne  another  around 
her,  touching  her  white  dress,  coming  and  complaining  to 
her  just  as  familiarly  as  if  they  were  her  own  children  ; 
seen  the  mutually  joyful  greetings  between  her  and  the 
negroes,  both  men  and  women,  whom  we  meet  in  our 
walks  ;  heard  it  also  continually  in  her  unpremeditated 
expressions,  felt  it  in  her  heart,  in  the  charm  of  the  at- 
mosphere which  surrounds  her  beloved  presence. 

This  evening,  when  she  and  I  were  returning  in  the 
twilight  from  a  ramble  in  one  of  the  woods  of  the  planta- 
tion, we  met  a  negro  woman. 

"  Oh,  Francisca,  Fr^cisca!"  exclaimed  Madame  C, 
cordially,  and  inquired  from  her  in  Spanish  how  she 
was,  &c. 

Francisca  replied,  with  a  beaming  expression,  that  she 
was  well,  was  happy,  and  hoped  soon  to  present  sua  merce 
with  a  beautiful  little  negrito.  She  expected  soon  to  be- 
come  a  mother.     Mistress   and  servant  could  not  have 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  399 

conversed  more  oordially  in  our  own  free  country.  The 
young  anticipating  mother  was  evidently  certain  that  her 
child  would,  in  the  handsome  white  lady,  meet  with  a 
motherly  protector. 

A  little  negro  lad,  who  was  one  day  playing  with  her 
youngest  grandson,  rushed  up  to  her  in  a  state  of  great 
excitement,  complaining,  "He  calls  me  a  negro  without 
shame  !"  (un  negre  sans  honte). 

"  Don't  play  any  longer  with  him  !"  said  Madame  C, 
gravely.  "  Don't  play  with  him  now,"  continued  she, 
addressing  the  other  negro  boys  around  them.  And  the 
handsome  little  Edwardo  received  a  reproof,  and  was  left 
alone  and  with  downcast  looks  for  some  time. 

I  often  admire  the  patience  with  which  she  allows  her- 
self to  be  surrounded  and  followed  by  the  active  little 
troop  of  black  children,  who  kick  up  a  cloud  of  dust  on 
the  roads  around  her  white  figure.  I  confess  that  I  could 
not  endure  it  as  she  does;  but  I  shall  often  in  memory 
hear  her  gentle  voice  say,  as  she  frequently  does,  when  I 
turn  the  conversation  to  this  subject, 

"  These  poor  creatures,  whose  lot  is  so  hard,  who  labor 
for  us,  and  have  so  little  prospect  of  freedom  and  happi- 
ness, ought  we  not  to  alleviate  their  fate,  and  sweeten 
their  lives  by  all  means  in  our  power?  I  can  not  bear 
to  see  any  thing  suffer — not  even  an  animal.  It  is  a  con- 
solation to  me  to  know  that  my  negroes  are  fond  of  me. 
1  am  fond  of  them,  and  I  have  always  found  them  de- 
voted, and  anxious  to  do  all  that  I  wish  them  to  do.  They 
are  by  no  means  difficult  to  manage  when  they  once  see 
that  people  really  wish  them  well,  and  desire  to  be  rea- 
sonable and  just  toward  them. 

"  I  never  allow  any  flogging  to  take  place  on  this  plant- 
ation without  my  express  permission.  The  majorals  are 
rude,  uneducated  men,  and  often  will  strike  a  negro  in 
passion  and  from  ill  humor.  This  ought  not  to  be  al- 
lowed.    When  a  negro  is  guilty  of  any  offense  which  de- 


400  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

serves  punishment,  I  am  informed,  and  I  determine  the 
punishment.  If  the  whip  is  to  be  used,  it  must  be  used 
without  passion,  and  only  when  admonition  and  reprimand 
have  proved  themselves  unavailing.  My  negroes  are  at- 
tached to  me  because  they  know  that  I  will  never  allow 
them  to  be  ill  used." 

"It  is  not,  then,  true,"  said  I,  triumphantly,  "what  I 
have  been  told  of  the  ingratitude  of  the  negroes,  and  that 
in  the  slave  disturbances  in  1846  the  kindest  masters 
were  those  who  were  first  murdered  by  their  slaves  ?" 

"Ah,  no!"  returned  Madame  C,  "  such  conduct  is  not 
in  accordance  with  human  nature !  It  happened  at  that 
very  time  that  I  was  quite  alone  among  my  negroes,  and 
they  it  was  who  watched  over  my  safety.  My  son  was 
obliged  to  go  to  his  plantation  on  the  southern  side  of  the 
island,  where  just  then  the  tumult  was  in  full  force.  The 
majoral  was  absent  for  a  time.  I  summoned  my  eontra- 
majorals,  who  were  all  negroes,  and  thus  addressed  them : 

"  'You  know  what  is  going  forward  at  this  time  not 
far  from  this  place — that  the  negroes  have  arisen,  and 
that  they  murder  and  plunder  their  owners?' 

"Yes,  they  knew  of  it. 

"  'Very  well,'  said  I;  '  I  now  place  myself  and  my  fam- 
ily under  your  protection.  My  son  must  leave  me,  and 
remain  away  for  two  or  three  weeks.  There  will  not  be 
a  white  man  on  the  plantation;  neither  will  I  send  for 
any.  I  depend  upon  you,  and  will  confide  myself  to  you. 
I  shall  consider  you  responsible  for  the  behavior  of  the 
negroes.  If  you  observe  any  disorder  among  them,  let 
me  be  informed  of  it.' 

"  They  promised  me  accordingly. 

"  I  at  that  time,  as  now,  and  indeed  ever  since  my  hus- 
band's death,  slept  very  badly,  and  often  lay  awake  great 
part  of  the  night.  One  night,  therefore,  being  sleepless, 
I  rose  between  two  ^and  three  in  the  morning,  and  looked 
through  the  window,  when  I  saw,  to  my  astonishment, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  401 

one  of  my  majorals  armed  and  walking  sentry  before  my 
house.  I  called  to  him,  and  asked  him  if  any  thing  were 
amiss. 

"  'No;  all  is  tranquil,'  replied  he;  'hut  we  fear,  I  and 

my  comrades,  that  some  of  the  negroes  from might 

come  here  and  disturb  your  grace,  and  therefore  we  de- 
termined to  keep  watch  over  your  house  in  turn  every 
night,  so  that  your  grace  might  be  able  to  sleep  quietly.' 

"  I  thanked  him  for  this  proof  of  devotion,  and  inquired 
how  the  negroes  were  behaving,  and  whether  they  worked 
as  usual. 

"  '  Better  than  usual,'  was  the  reply;  'they  know  that 
la  Signora  confides  in  them,  and  they  wish  to  prove  that 
they  deserve  her  confidence.  Your  grace  will  be  always 
safe.' " 

After  these  proofs  of  the  fidelity  and  worth  of  the  ne- 
gro character,  the  noble  lady  can  not  do  other  than  suffer 
from  the  cruelty  and  the  injustice  which  she  sees  practiced 
by  so  many  of  the  slave-owners  toward  their  slaves. 

"  Often,"  said  she,  on  one  occasion,  "have  I,  in  the  bit- 
terness which  this  has  occasioned,  wished  that  they  all 
could  be  free !" 

I  often  observe  in  her  a  shudder,  as  of  anguish,  and  hear 
a  sigh  when  the  whip  is  heard  to  crack,  which  is  the  sig- 
nal for  the  slaves  to  go  to  work ;  for  here  even  she  has 
not  the  power  of  having  this  abominable  signal  changed. 
Another  more  musical  sound  is  heard  daily,  about  eleven 
o'clock  in  the  forenoon,  when  a  long,  melodious,  far-re- 
sounding blast  is  blown  on  a  shell,  the  summons  from 
labor  of  such  negro  women  as  have  infants  at  the  breast, 
to  go  and  suckle  them,  and  rest  before  doing  so. 

So  universally  known  is  the  kind  disposition  of  Madame 
C.  toward  her  negro  slaves,  that  she  is  often  besought  by 
strange  negroes  who  have  displeased  their  masters  to  be- 
come their  intercessors,  and  have  them  spared  from  pun- 
ishment.    It  is  not  an  unusual  thing  in  Cuba  for  the 


402  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

offending  slave  to  choose  from  among  the  white  people  a 
Padrino  or  a  Madrina  to  intercede  for  them  with  their 
exasperated  owner,  who  seldom  or  never  refuses  pardon 
which  is  thus  asked.  Madame  C.  has  often  been  request- 
ed to  become  Madrina,  and  never  in  vain.  Who,  indeed, 
could  refuse  that  noble,  charming  woman  any  thing  which 
she  might  ask  for  ?  Wherever  her  white,  beautiful  form 
appears  (she  always  is  dressed  in  white),  she  seems  to  be 
a  messenger  of  peace. 

Madame  C.  was  born  in  San  Domingo,  of  French  par- 
ents, who  fled  thither  from  France  during  the  Reign  of 
Terror.  During  the  bloody  tumults  of  San  Domingo,  she 
and  her  family  were  saved  by  the  devoted  zeal  of  faithful 
slaves.  During  the  beautiful  evenings  of  my  stay  in  the 
house  of  this  excellent  woman,  and  which  we  spend  on 
the  piazza,  or  in  quietly  wandering  in  the  palm-groves  of 
the  plantation,  she  has  related  to  me  many  episodes  from 
the  romantic  history  of  herself  and  her  relatives  ;  and  she 
has  no  idea  how  much  I  am  captivated  by  those  traits  of 
an  unusually  gifted  and  profoundly  intelligent  soul,  which 
presented  themselves  the  while,  without  herself  under- 
standing their  beauty  and  their  unusual  character.  We 
often  converse,  and  her  son  Sidney  with  us,  on  more  gen- 
eral topics,  especially  connected  with  history,  and  compare 
remarkable  characters  and  incidents  from  the  histories  of 
different  countries,  and  I  do  not  make  any  bad  figure  in 
this  way,  with  my  Swedish  men  and  women.  We  talk, 
we  think,  we  paint  together;  we  are  very  merry  together; 
and  I  can  not  help  grieving  beforehand  in  having  so  soon 
to  leave  this  place.  Here  I  could  live  without  suffering 
from  what  I  see  most  nearly  surrounding  me,  and  here  I 
could  become  so  attached,  and  here  I  could  draw  and  paint 
so  much. 

Madame  C.  draws  and  paints  flowers,  butterflies,  and 
all  natural  objects  remarkably  well,  because  she  maintains 
the  utmost  fidelity  to  nature,  and  draws  with  intelligence; 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  403 

during  her  misfortunes  (she  lost  her  husband,  Marques  C, 
and  her  youngest  son  by  cholera,  and  suffered  greatly  in 
property  by  the  late  hurricanes),  she  lost  her  inclination 
for  these  cheerful  occupations ;  but  the  delight  I  have  in 
natural  objects,  and  my  fever  for  drawing,  have  revived  it 
in  her,  and  if  I  could  remain  here  some  months,  we  should 
make  together  a  beautiful  album  of  the  flowers  and  fruits 
of  Cuba,  and  it  would  be  very  agreeable,  if  greater  and 
dearer  vocations  did  not  prevent  me ! 

Many  kinds  of  trees  are  blossoming  now  that  the  rainy 
season  is  at  hand.  Cuculios  come  out  in  great  numbers, 
and  constitute  here,  as  atL' Industrie,  my  amusement  and 
my  torment.  Madame  C.  can  not,  she  declares,  say  suffi- 
cient about  the  splendor  and  the  luxuriance  of  the  vege- 
tation during  the  rainy  season,  nor  of  the  pomp  and  gor- 
geous coloring  of  the  clouds.  She  would  willingly  tempt 
me  to  remain  and  see  all  this — with  her ! 

We  are  now  alone  here,  she,  her  youngest  son,  the 
young,  giant-like  Sidney  S.,  and  three  of  the  second  son's 
children,  namely,  my  little  Cabellero  Adolpho  ;  a  most 
charming,  pretty,  and  gracious  little  girl,  Michaelita,  the 
image  of  her  grandmother;  and  a  little  boy,  Edwardo,  a 
living  counterpart  of  Corregio's  Amor.  Madame  C.  reads 
with  the  children  in  the  forenoon,  while  I  draw  and  write 
in  my  own  room.  The  afternoons  and  evenings  we  spend 
together.  No  one  can  live  more  agreeably  than  I  do  here, 
but  the  phrensy  of  drawing  continues,  and  leaves  me  no 
peace.  I  am  drawing  Madame  C.'s  portrait,  that  I  may 
carry  home  with  me  her  gentle  countenance,  her  beautiful, 
intelligent  eyes,  which  so  faithfully  mirror  her  soul.  I 
am  taking  a  portrait  of  the  poetically-beautiful  head  of 
Sidney  S.  for  his  mother.  I  am  drawing  a  group  of  their 
sweet  children,  and  while  I  paint  them  I  am  enchanted  by 
the  witchery  of  their  countenances,  the  beauty  of  their 
eyes.  I  am  drawing  the  trees,  and  flowers,  and  fruit,  and 
birds  which  surround  me,  and  I  am  continually  in  a  state 


404    *      HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

of  half  desperation  that  I  can  get  so  little  done  in  the 
short  time  that  I  have  to  remain  here.  This  Caffetal  is 
the  most  beautiful  and  the  best  kept  of  any  which  I  have 
yet  seen.  The  whole  of  this  district  is  full  of  coffee  plant- 
ations, and  in  the  time  of  their  prosperity  every  one  of 
these  is  said  to  have  been  a  little  paradise  of  beauty  and 
luxury ;  their  proprietors  emulating  each  other  in  magnif- 
icence of  life  and  lavish  expenditure.  SignorC,  the  hus- 
band of  my  beautiful  friend,  was  one  of  the  most  distin- 
guished planters  for  affluence,  magnificent  liberality,  and 
beneficence.  He  was  one  day  dining  with  a  neighbor ; 
the  hour  of  his  return  arrived,  and  his  volante,  drawn 
by  three  magnificent  horses,  drove  up  to  the  house  ;  the 
guests,  on  this,  rose  to  the  windows  to  see  the  horses  of 
Signor  C,  which  were  celebrated  for  their  beauty. 

"Ah!  how  happy  I  should  be  if  I  were  possessed  of 
such  horses,"  exclaimed  one  lady,  as  the  splendid  creat- 
ures advanced  to  the  door  at  full  trot. 

"Madame!  Us  sont  a  vous,"  said  the  polite  Spaniard. 

Terrified  at  the  consequence  of  her  thoughtless  excla- 
mation, the  lady  wished  to  refuse.  It  was  of  no  use.  Sig- 
nor C.  ordered  the  horses  to  be  immediately  taken  out  of 
the  carriage,  and,  borrowing  a  pair  from  his  friend,  return- 
ed home.  There  was  nothing  for  it  but  that  the  lady  must 
retain  the  valuable  gift.  Such  was  the  luxury  and  such 
the  spirit  which  prevailed  in  the  flourishing  times  of  this 
coffee  plantation.  The  depreciation  of  coffee  as  an  arti- 
cle of  commerce,  and  two  hurricanes  in  succession,  have 
changed  the  state  of  things  in  this  part  of  the  island.,  In 
the  last  which  occurred,  in  the  year  1848,  the  house  of 
Madame  C.  was  leveled  to  the  ground,  and  books  and  pic- 
tures, which  have  since  been  dug  out,  were  drenched  and 
destroyed  by  salt  water,  which  during  the  hurricane  was 
driven  upon  the  island.  It  is  said  that  the  ground  is  still 
sick  from  this  dreadful  tempest,  and  that  the  trees  and 
plants  have  not  yet  recovered  their  former  vigor.     Many 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  405 

large  trees,  and  among  these  a  magnificent  ceiba,  lie  still 
in  the  pasture  meadows,  prostrate  on  the  ground.  In  the 
garden,  however,  all  is  again  in  the  most  beautiful  lux- 
uriance, and  the  lovely  aviary  contains  a  number  of  rare 
birds.  The  house,  which  was  rebuilt  by  Sidney  S.  for  his 
mother,  by  the  help  of  the  negroes  alone,  is  one  of  the 
most  lovely  which  I  have  seen  in  Cuba;  so  dexterous  are 
negroes  as  handicraftsmen.  The  greater  number  of  arti- 
sans in  Cuba  are  negroes,  and,  as  such,  they  gain  so  much 
that  they  can  easily  purchase  their  own  freedom. 

When  at  sunset  I  walk  with  Madame  C,  quietly  con- 
versing in  some  of  the  many  alleys  of  the  coffee  planta- 
tion, I  can  not  help  stopping  again  and  again,  enraptured 
by  the  beauty  and  grace  both  in  the  form  and  movement 
of  the  young  palm-trees  which  grow  there.  There  is  an 
incomparable  grace  about  the  branches  of  the  cocoa-palm 
in  its  youth.  Regularity  and  ease,  precision  and  freedom, 
majesty  and  gentleness,  reveal  themselves  here  in  living 
symbols.  There  is  also  among  the  beautiful  features  of 
this  place  a  gigantic  berceau,  or  lofty  arcade  of  bamboo, 
called  in  Spanish  cagna  brava,  which  forms  the  termina- 
tion of  a  magnificent  guadarajah  of  king-palms.  When 
I  behold  the  setting  sun  through  this  light  green  temple 
arch,  and  see  the  delicate  branches  of  bamboo  forming 
lofty  G-othic  arcades — the  grace  of  which  is  indescribable 
— against  the  pale  red  and  golden  clouds  of  the  western 
heaven,  I  feel,  with  a  mixture  of  melancholy  and  joy, 
that  the  creative  artist  must  here  drop  his  pen  and  pen- 
cil, and  say,  discouraged  like  Carlo  Congo  in  the  dance, 
"No!  it  is  of  no  use !"  No,  it  is  not  of  any  use  to  lift  the 
hands  to  imitate,  only  to  worship ;  but  it  is  of  use  to  see 
these  fashionings  of  the  greatest  artist,  to  learn  from  them 
to  worship,  and  that  the  mind,  and  art  itself,  may  be  en- 
nobled and  inspired  by  them  ! 

I  rise  early  in  the  mornings  to  draw,  and  to  see  from 
my  window  two  large  bushes  of  hybiscus,  with  their  fiery 


406  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

red  flowers,  surrounded  by  a  vast  multitude  of  smarag- 
dus-green  humming-birds.  There  are  also  in  the  large 
plane-trees,  which  grow  just  by,  a  great  many  birds 
which  are  very  amusing  to  me.  Foremost  of  these  are 
two  long-legged,  long-necked,  pale  red  flamingoes,  which 
were  taken  when  young  on  the  sea-shore,  and  which  are 
now  perfectly  tame.  They  somewhat  resemble  swans  in 
form,  but  have  considerably  longer  and  thinner  legs,  lon- 
ger and  thinner  necks.  They  have  small  heads,  and  large, 
crooked  bills,  and  make  a  noise  like  ducks,  only  much 
louder,  and  which  becomes  particularly  audible  when 
they  do  not  receive  their  food  at  the  accustomed  time; 
and  if  they  happen  to  see  Madame  C,  they  come  walk- 
ing after  her  screeching  out  their  grievances,  as  if  very 
anxious  to  complain  to  her  of  having  been  neglected. 
Their  contempt  for  the  hens  and  geese  is  indescribable, 
and  the  very  important  airs  which  they  assume  as  they 
climb  up  and  look  down  upon  them,  as  if  amazed  at  their 
presuming  to  come  into  their  way,  are  really  splendid. 
The  hens,  in  the  mean  time,  scuttle  away  from  before 
them,  as  if  humiliated  by  their  transcendant  greatness 
and  by  a  conscious  inferiority ;  but  the  fat  and  ponderous 
geese,  who  resemble  city  dames  beside  Austrian  Arch- 
duchesses, avenge  themselves  sometimes  by  stretching 
out  their  necks  after  them,  and  uttering  a  derisive  cackle, 
which  the  high-bred  flamingoes  do  not  think  it  worth 
their  while  to  notice.  Such  are  nature's  democracy.  The 
poor,  high-bred  flamingoes  are,  however,  now  nearly  parch- 
ed up  with  thirst ;  there  is,  it  is  true,  a  stone  basin  for 
them  here  which  ought  to  contain  water,  but  the  contin- 
ued drought  has  left  it  very  nearly  dry.  Here,  neverthe- 
less, the  flamingo  pair  take  their  morning  bath  with  great 
ceremony,  and  when  they  perceive  a  little  water  on  their 
wings,  they  go  out  upon  the  grass,  and  with  great  pomp 
and  solemnity  spread  out  their  huge  wings  to  dry  in  the 
wind  and  the  ascending  sun.    After  that  they  take  a  doze 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  407 

standing  on  one  leg  under  a  casuarina-tree,  with  long,  out- 
stretched branches,  and  turn  their  long  necks  in  snake-like 
curves  over  their  backs.     It  is  most  amusing  to  see  them. 

Here,  as  every  where  else  in  the  world,  people  are  nev- 
er satisfied  with  the  weather  which  Grod  sends  them.  As 
people  often  in  our  country  long  for  rain,  so  are  they  long- 
ing for  it  now  in  Cuba.  And  the  hot  air  and  the  red 
dust  causes  the  longing  for  rain  here  to  be  something 
burning  and  tormenting.  I  have  said  a  great  deal  about 
the  deliciousness  of  the  air  and  the  beauty  of  the  vegeta- 
tion of  Cuba,  and  I  have  enjoyed  both  extremely;  yet 
even  here,  in  the  midst  of  all  this  magnificence,  I  feel  as 
if  I  had  a  sort  of  foreboding  of  what  home-sickness  must 
be.  There  are  moments  when  I  do  not  dare  to  think  of 
our  cool  summer  nights,  and  the  white,  soft  mists  which 
arise  in  the  evening,  and  lie  like  white  veils  over  the  mead- 
ows below  the  house  at  Aersta,  those  mists  beneath  which 
the  oxen  lie  so  comfortably  chewing  their  cuds  and  re- 
posing !  I  know  that  if  I  should  be  ill  here,  I  should,  like 
the  poor  little  Laplander,  Tantas  Potas,  when  he  was  dy- 
ing in  Italy,  desire  amid  all  the  tropical  magnificence  that 
which  I  could  not  obtain — "a  little  snow  to  lay  upon  my 
head!" 

May  3d.  A  shower  !  a  shower  !  and  the  flamingoes 
have  water  to  bathe  in,  and  have  had  a  great  bathing, 
and  the  geese  cackle,  and  vegetation  shines  out,  and  the 
animal  creation  raises  its  head.  Now  the  coffee-shrubs- 
will  set  their  beans,  and  the  Palma  Christi*  will  stretch 
forth  its  green  hands  vigorously  to  the  winds.  The  pa- 
paya-tree shakes  the  rain-drops  from  its  crown,  and  cucu- 
lios  come  in  swarms. 

To-morrow,  Sunday,  the  negroes  will  have  a  dance  be- 
neath the  great  almond-tree  in  front  of  the  bohea.     It  will 

*  So  called  from  the  form  of  its  leaves  ;  the  plant  from  which  the  cas- 
tor-oil is  extracted.  Latterly,  this  plant  has  been  much  cultivated  in 
Cuba  and  the  southern  states  of  America. 


408  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

be  my  last  day  at  La  Concordia.  The  day  after  to-mor- 
row I  shall  go  to  Havana,  accompanied  by  Sidney  S. 

"While  I  have  it  fresh  in  my  memory,  I  must  tell  you 
a  circumstance  which  has  lately  occurred  not  far  from 
here,  and  which  proves  that,  according  to  the  treatment 
which  he  receives,  the  negro  slave  becomes  either  good  or 
bad. 

A  French  planter  at  Cuba,  M.  Chapeaud,  went  to  Eu- 
rope a  few  months  since,  and  before  his  departure  left  the 
care  of  his  plantation  and  his  negro  slaves  to  a  majoral  in 
whom  he  had  confidence.  He,  however,  was  a  stern  and 
brutal-tempered  man,  who  treated  the  slaves  with  severity 
and  violence,  and  before  a  month  had  elapsed  the  whole 
working  population  of  the  plantation  was  in  a  state  of 
complete  tumult,  and  the  life  of  the  majoral  was  in  dan- 
ger. Madame  Chapeaud — a  lady  whom  I  should  like  to 
be  acquainted  with — seeing  this  state  of  things,  determ- 
ined to  dismiss  the  majoral  and  take  upon  herself  his  du- 
ties. Screened  by  an  umbrella  from  the  heat  of  the  sun's 
rays,  she  herself  went  out  with  the  negroes  upon  the  sug- 
ar-cane fields,  watched  them  at  their  work,  attended  them 
home,  and  looked  after  their  food  and  their  comfort,  treat- 
ing them  all  according  to  justice  and  reason.  From  this 
moment  the  most  perfect  order  and  obedience  prevailed 
on  the  plantation.  The  slaves  worked  willingly,  and  were 
anxious  to  evince  their  devotion  to  the  estimable  lady, 
who  continued  to  exercise  the  duty  of  a  majoral  on  the 
plantation  until  a  man  was  found  capable  of  governing 
the  plantation  according  to  her  views. 

My  last  evening  at  La  Concordia.  Cuculios  are  shin- 
ing beside  me  in  the  glass,  and  I  could  write  by  their 
light.  I  write,  however,  by  one  made  by  human  hands, 
because  the  light,  although  not  so  beautiful,  is  yet  stron- 
ger. It  is  my  last  evening  at  La  Concordia.  I  have  be- 
come acquainted  with  much  that  is  beautiful  in  nature 
and  in  man  at  this  place,  for  which  I  shall  be  eternally 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  499 

thankful.  One  thought  makes  me  especially  happy.  I 
came  hither  unknown,  even  by  literary  reputation — be- 
cause it  is  very  seldom  that  European  books  reach  Cuba 
— without  any  other  recommendation  than  that  of  being 
a  stranger  from  a  far-distant  land — the  land  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus  and  Queen  Christina — and,  after  a  residence  of 
little  more  than  a  week,  I  am  become  as  a  sister  and  a 
friend  of  the  family.  This  relationship,  which  has  renew- 
ed itself  for  me  in  various  homes  of  Cuba,  has  given  me 
the  happy  feeling  of  kindredship  of  soul,  which,  whenever 
it  makes  itself  availing,  becomes  a  much  stronger  bond  of 
union  than  any  mere  outward  ones.  I  have  seldom  ever 
felt  myself  more  at  home  in  a  stranger's  house  than  I 
have  done  in  this.  Madame  C.  is  one  of  those  persons  to 
whom  I  could  become  cordially  attached,  and  with  whom 
I  could  live  happily  in  daily  and  quiet  communion.  I 
could  right  earnestly  quarrel  with  her  son  on  certain  sub- 
jects; but  I  should,  nevertheless,  become  attached  to  him, 
and  interested  in  him,  as  in  a  young  giant  character,  rich- 
ly gifted  by  nature,  and  capable  of  being  kindled  by  great 
and  noble  thoughts.  These  sweet  children,  too — yes,  I 
am  fairly  in  love  with  them,  especially  with  the  youngest 
little  amor,  Edwardo.  One  can  not  imagine  to  one's  self 
more  beautiful  or  more  graceful  children!  It  is  a  grief 
to  me  to  part  from  them  all. 

Flowers  and  fruits  too,  which  are  now  beginning  to 
come  forth  in  yet  greater  abundance !  I  have  here  be- 
come acquainted  with  many  which  were  hitherto  un- 
known to  me.  These  islands  of  the  Southern  Sea,  favor- 
ites of  the  sun,  abound  in  rich  fruits  and  spices.  None 
of  the  many  savory  dishes  at  Madame  C.'s  table  have 
pleased  me  more  than  the  favorite  dish  of  the  negro  slaves, 
foufou,  a  kind  of  pulpy  but  very  savory  pudding,  which 
is  made  of  mashed  bananas  or  plantains,  and  eaten  with 
a  sauce  of  tomatoes  or  other  vegetables.  It  is  a  remark- 
ably good  and  wholesome  dish,  which  we  have  had  many 

Vol.  II.— S 


I 


410  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

times  at  breakfast  since  I  expressed  my  great  liking  for 
it;  and  next  to  our  potatoes,  which  in  Cuba  are  a  rarity, 
I  know  no  vegetable  root  so  excellent,  so  savory  and  deli- 
cate at  the  same  time,  as  that  noble  root  yuca,  which  is 
eaten  like  potatoes  with  fresh  butter,  and  which  nourishes 
as  well  upon  the  poor  land  of  the  negroes  as  in  the  rich 
planters'  well -manured  caffetals.  So  good  a  mother  is 
Nature,  so  good  a  Father  is  the  Creator  of  Nature,  that 
the  most  palatable  and  the  most  wholesome  food  of  the 
earth  is,  in  all  countries,  the  most  accessible  to  all.  What 
have  we  in  our  country  which  for  a  continuance  tastes  so 
good  and  is  so  wholesome  as  potatoes  and  herring,  milk 
and  bread,  and  rye-meal  hasty  -  pudding  ?  "Even  their 
excellences,"  I  remember  your  saying,  on  one  occasion, 
"may  very  well  conclude  with  hasty -pudding!" — and 
water,  clear,  pure  spring  water,  the  first,  best  of  all 
beverages  of  Nature,  is  the  one  which  is  given  freely 
to  all! 

I  must  now  say  a  few  words  about  the  last  negro  dance 
which  I  shall  witness  in  Cuba. 

It  was  in  the  afternoon  of  this  day,  under  a  large,  shad- 
owy almond-tree  in  front  of  the  bohea,  which  here  is  not 
one  of  those  castellated  walls,  with  gates,  and  bolts,  and 
bars,  but  a  building  lying  open,  and  which  reminds  me 
of  the  large  barns  in  our  own  country.  It  seems  as  if  the 
coffee  plantations  were  distinguished  from  sugar  planta- 
tions by  the  style  of  the  bohea. 

The  dance  was  altogether  similar  in  character  to  the 
dances  which  I  have  already  described.  The  negroes 
stood  in  a  ring  and  sang,  monotonously  and  inharmoni- 
ously,  but  with  measured  cadence,  the  words  and  the  tune 
which  a  young  negro  gave  out.  In  the  centre  of  the  ring 
two  or  three  dancing  couples  flourished  about,  leaping  and 
grimacing,  the  men  with  much  animation,  the  women 
sheepishly.  The  dance  was  one  continuous,  monotonous 
improvisation.     A  number  of  little  children  joined  in  the 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  411 

ring,  and  among  them  stood  the  good  white  lady,  la  dame 
blanche,  as  I  like  to  call  her,  gentle  and  motherly. 

Again  I  asked  and  endeavored  to  ascertain  the  mean- 
ing of  the  words  which  were  sung  to  the  dance,  and  again 
I  was  told  that  these  words  were  so  insignificant,  so  com- 
pletely nothings,  that  it  was  not  worth  while  to  attend  to 
them.  It  may  be  that  they  frequently  are  so;  hut  that 
this  is  not  always  the  case,  I  know  from  many  accounts 
which  I  have  heard,  and  from  many  negro  songs  in  the 
slave  states  of  America.  The  faculty  of  the  African  for 
improvisation  is  a  distinguishing  feature  of  his  life  and 
temperament,  and  may,  as  we  know,  become  the  utterance 
of  a  higher  degree  of  simple  beauty  in  soul  and  action. 

When  the  celebrated  English  traveler,  Mungo  Park,  as 
he  himself  relates  in  the  account  of  his  travels,  had  lost 
his  way  in  the  African  deserts,  and  was  driven  with  ab- 
horrence from  the  village  where  he  had  hoped  to  find  a 
night's  lodging,  he  seated  himself  under  a  tree,  alone, 
hungry,  wearied,  dejected,  with  no  other  prospect  before 
him  than  a  miserable  death,  because  a  tempest  threaten- 
ed, and  wild  beasts  roared  around.  Then  came  toward 
him  in  the  twilight  a  woman  returning  from  the  field  ; 
she  saw  him,  and  had  compassion  upon  him  ;  took  up  the 
horse's  saddle  and  bridle — for  his  horse  had  been  stolen — 
and  bade  the  unhappy  traveler  follow  her. 

She  led  him  to  her  hut,  lighted  her  lamp,  spread  out  a 
mat  upon  the  floor,  and  bade  him  rest  upon  it  through  the 
night.  She  then  brought  out  a  fine  fish,  which  she  roast- 
ed for  him  upon  the  coals,  and  gave  it  him  for  his  supper. 

During  a  great  part  of  the  night  she  spun  cotton  with 
other  women  in  the  hut,  and  as  they  spun  they  sang  songs 
to  enliven  themselves,  one  of  which  was  evidently  im- 
provised for  the  occasion.  One  woman  sang  it  first  alone, 
afterward  the  others  joined  in  chorus.  The  air  was  soft 
and  melancholy;  the  words  were  the  following: 

"  The  storm  raged,  and  the  r,ain  fell;  the  poor  white 


412  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

man,  weak  and  weary,  sat  beneath  our  tree.  He  has  no 
mother  to  carry  milk  to  him — no  wife  to  grind  his  corn! 

Chorus.  "  Have  pity  on  the  white  man  who  has  no 
mother,"  &c. 

If  the  women  of  Africa,  in  America  and  the  West  In- 
dies, sing  less  beautiful  songs,  it  is  no  fault  of  theirs  ;  if 
their  improvisation  is  fettered  like  their  bodies  and  souls, 
it  is  the  fault  of  the  white  man. 

It  is  his  duty  to  emancipate  them ;  to  let  them,  by  means 
of  the  sun  of  Christian  love  and  education,  shoot  up  like 
a  palm-tree,  like  a  bamboo-arcade  from  the  sun-warmed 
earth;  and  then  the  people  of  the  tropics,  with  their  songs 
and  dances,  may  one  day  correspond  with  the  mild  and 
beautiful  scenery  of  the  tropics.  And  that,  too,  is  like  the 
continued  improvisation  of  a  varied,  luxuriant  summer- 
life,  which,  amid  its  eternal  blossoming,  might  make  man 
almost  forget  that  death  is  come  into  the  world. 

Later  in  this  beautiful  evening — one  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful which  I  have  spent  at  La  Concordia,  for  the  atmos- 
phere was  refreshed  by  the  rain,  and  the  full  moon  ascend- 
ed beautifully  above  the  white  dwelling-house^ — we  sat 
out  of  doors,  and  saw  the  cuculios  fluttering  about  in  the 
air,  and  the  fire  shining  out  from  the  negroes'  bohea.  This 
people  can  not  live  without  fire,  even  in  the  midst  of  the 
greatest  heat,  and  they  like  to  kindle  it  on  the  floor  in  the 
middle  of  their  room  ;  they  contrive  to  make  their  beds — 
a  wooden  frame,  with  or  without  straw — by  means  of  leafy 
branches  and  rags,  as  much  like  dens  as  possible,  and  in 
these  they  are  fond  of  lying  all  in  a  heap. 

Still  later,  I  played  with  those  sweet  children  on  the 
piazza  at  "  lend  me  your  fire-stick,"  which  is  here  changed 
into  "  tu  me  da  la  candela"  which  was  a  novelty  to  the 
children,  and  made  them  crazy  with  joy. 

I  shall  set  off  early  in  the  morning  for  Havana,  whence, 
on  the  8th of  May,  I  proceed  to  Charleston  by  the  "  Isabel." 

The  dance  under  the  almond-tree,  and  the  beautiful 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  4! 3 

white  lady  there,  like  a  mother  among  the  black  children, 
is  a  picture  which  I  am  glad  to  bear, away  with  me. 

But  I  bear  away  with  me  thence  the  memory  of  the 
words  which  the  estimable  Don  Felix  uttered  one  evening, 
and  which  in  his  mouth  could  not  be  questioned:  u  Ah, 
c'est  un  malheur  que  d'etre  esclave  /" 

That  beautiful  white  lady  can  not,  after  all,  protect  the 
poor  black  slave ! 

Havana,  May  7th. 

Religion  is  not  altogether  dead  in  Cuba;  it  still  exists 
there  in  some  beautiful,  charitable  institutions  for  the  ben- 
efit of  orphan  children  and  the  unfortunate  sick.  It  still 
exists  there  —  more  vital  than  in  the  United  States  of 
America  in  one  respect,  namely,  that  it  acknowledges  as 
worthy  of  its  care  the  black  as  well  as  the  white,  and 
equally  so  as  regards  its  hospital  and  benevolent  institu- 
tions. I  have  seen  this  to-day,  and  have  heard  the  same 
from  the  amiable  Creole  Alfredo  S.,  with  whom  I  visited 
the  large  infirmary  of  St.  Lazare,  of  which  he  is  Inten- 
dente.  This  great  institution  is  appropriated  to  the  unfor- 
tunates who  are  afflicted  with  the  incurable  diseases  pe- 
culiar to  the  tropics,  and  in  particular  to  the  African  race, 
leprosy,  elephantiasis,  in  which  the  legs  and  feet  swell  to 
an  unnatural  size,  and  la  maladie  de  St.  Antoine,  in  which 
the  hands  and  feet  are  contracted,  and  without  apparent 
cause  or  sore,  waste  away  to  nothing.  These  unfortunates 
are  here  provided  for  in  the  most  beautiful  manner.  The 
extensive  building — built  like  an  immense  bohea  around 
a  square  court,  and  with  a  grated  door — is  situated  by  the 
sea,  which  bathes  with  its  roaring  waves  the  rocky  walls 
at  its  feet,  and  surrounds  the  home  of  the  sick  with  its 
breezes,  fraught  with  life  and  health.  There  were  in  the 
court  beautiful  shrubberies  of  oleanders,  now  in  full  bloom, 
and  the  beautiful  pink  flowers  of  which  filled  the  air  with 
a  delicious  fragrance.  These  beautiful  shrubberies  were 
the  work  of  the  young  Intendant.      Each  unfortunate, 


I 


414  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

whether  black  or  white,  who  is  afflicted  with  any  one  of 
these  incurable  maladies,  has  here  his  own  separate  con- 
venient abode.  Among  those  whom  I  visited  was  an  old 
negro,  who  from  his  very  youth  had  been  afflicted  with  la 
maladie  de  St.  Antoine.  His  hands  were  now  merely  fin- 
ger-ends, and  his  feet  knobs,  upon  which,  nevertheless,  he 
managed  to  move  about  by  help  of  sticks,  and  contrived 
even  with  his  poor  finger-ends  to  perform  his  little  house- 
hold duties.  His  dwelling  consisted  of  one  little  sitting- 
room,  ditto  chamber,  a  little  kitchen,  and  a  little  garden 
besides,  in  which  he  cultivated  bananas  and  various  roots ; 
every  thing  was  small,  but  comfortable  and  neat.  He 
looked  good  and  contented.  The  other  sick  persons  had 
all  similar  dwellings:  nothing  was  wanting  which  might 
in  any  way  alleviate  their  slowly-dying  life.  Christian 
love  labored  here  for  the  most  suffering  of  the  children  of 
men.  The  hopeless  might  here  live  for  the  most  beauti- 
ful hope. 

Another  noble  institution  of  mercy  at  Havana  is  La 
Casa  de  Beneficenza.  This  receives  many  hundreds  of 
motherless  children.  Here  they  are  educated,  and  each 
one,  on  leaving  the  establishment,  receives  a  dower  of  five 
hundred  pesos  with  which  to  commence  his  own  career  in 
life. 

From  VInfirmerie  de  St.  Lazare,  Mr.  S.  conducted  me 
to  the  great  cemetery,  Campo  Santo.  It  is  a  large  struc- 
ture of  white  marble,  in  the  lofty  walls  of  which,  within 
an  immense  sort  of  castle-court,  each  family  has  its  little 
niche  or  ledge,  that  is  to  say,  if  the  family  is  able  to  pay 
for  it.  Each  such  little  niche  was  furnished  with  an  in- 
scription in  gilt  letters.  The  width  and  height  of  the 
walls  made  these  grave-niches  appear  very  small,  but  each 
is  nevertheless  capable  of  holding  many  coffins. 

I  had  in  the  hospital  beheld  the  spirit  of  Christianity;  in 
the  Campo  Santo  I  again  found  that  of  heathenism.  The 
bodies  of  the  rich  were  interred  in  those  lofty  walls  with 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  415 

their  gilded  inscriptions ;  those  of  the  poor  were  buried  in 
the  earth  without  any  token  of  memorial,  without  even  a 
green  sod  over  them,  or  a  flower  or  shrub  to  speak  of 
life  above  the  grave ;  and  there  was  one  large  quarter  of 
the  Campo  Santo  where  the  spectator  beheld  heaped-up 
mounds  and  walls  of  bones  and  skulls.  This  was  the 
burial-place  of  the  negro  slave.  It  is  forbidden  to  bury  a 
negro  here  in  a  coffin;  the  bodies  are  therefore  thrown 
either  wholly  or  half  naked  into  the  ground,  and  lime,  or 
some  other  kind  of  earth,  which  quickly  consumes  the 
flesh,  is  thrown  upon  them.  In  the  course  of  from  eight 
to  fourteen  days,  the  bodies  are  disinterred  to  make  room 
for  other  corpses,  and  the  bones  are  cast  up  in  heaps  to  dry 
in  the  sun. 

While  we  stood  here  we  witnessed  the  interment  of 
some  humble  person  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  negroes' 
quarter.  I  noticed  that  they  laid  cushions,  coverlets,  and 
articles  of  clothing  with  the  dead  in  the  grave. 

During  these,  my  last  days  at  Havana,  I  have  visited, 
in  company  with  my  good  Mrs.  F.,  several  beautiful  pri- 
vate gardens,  in  order  to  become  acquainted  with  various 
flowers  and  fruits  ;  I  made  the  acquaintance,  also,  of  Dr. 
Philippe  Poe,  the  professor  of  botany,  who  has  been  so  po- 
lite as  to  present  me  with  some  Cuban  butterflies,  among 
which  is  a  specimen  of  the  urania,  the  most  beautiful 
butterfly  of  Cuba.  It  is  of  a  splendid  dark  green  color, 
and  has  a  gloss  as  of  velvet. 

I  regret  not  having  earlier  become  acquainted  with  the 
interesting  and  kind  Alfredo  S.,  because  I  should  have 
gained  much  knowledge  from  him  in  Havana  which  the 
shortness  of  time  does  not  now  admit  of. 

Many  things  even  in  Cuba  seems  to  have  greatly  im- 
proved of  late  years ;  in  particular,  as  regards  police  reg- 
ulations and  personal  safety,  as  well  in  the  whole  island 
as  in  the  city.  Some  years  ago — I  have  been  told  this 
by  various  people — there  would  frequently  be  heard,  late 


416  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

in  the  evening,  the  cry  of  "  Assasino!"  in  the  streets  ;  but 
no  one  dared  to  go  to  the  spot  whence  the  ery  proceeded, 
because  the  cry  was  not  unfrequently  a  mere  trick  of  the 
assassin  himself.  And  if  one  person  saw  another  lying 
murdered  in  the  fields,  he  did  not  dare  to  render  any  as- 
sistance, because  if  the  wounded  man  died,  and  there 
were  not  several  witnesses  to  attest  his  innocence,  he  ran 
the  risk  of  being  himself  accused  of  murder,  and  was  sure 
to  become  involved  in  an  endless  legal  prosecution.  The 
present  improved  state  of  the  public  safety  is  attributed 
to  the  keen  scrutiny  and  general  reform  of  Governor  Ja- 
con.  He  was  a  stern  man,  whose  despotic  temper  was 
beneficial  to  the  public,  while  it  made  him  hated  by  many 
private  individuals. 

Lawsuits  and  lawyers  abound  in  Cuba,  and  the  histo- 
ries of  the  arbitrary  power  and  venality  of  the  law,  and 
even  of  the  judges'  bench,  as  regards  private  individuals, 
and  the  difficulty  which  there  is  for  any  one  to  obtain  jus- 
tice, if  he  can  not  purchase  it  at  a  great  price,  are  unpre- 
cedented. There  requires,  however,  for  the  full  reforma- 
tion of  all  these  abuses,  a  total  reorganization,  not  only  in 
the  administration  of  justice,  but  in  the  government  of 
the  whole  island. 

During  my  rambles  in  Havana  I  have  always  observed 
the  negro  population  there  with  great  pleasure,  because 
they  appear  to  me  freer  and  happier  than  in  the  cities  of 
the  United  States.  Certain  it  is  that  one  here  sees  ne- 
groes and  mulattoes  much  more  frequently  engaged  in 
trade  than  there,  and  their  wives  are  commonly  very  well, 
nay,  even  splendidly  dressed.  It  is  not  unusual  to  see 
mulatto  women,  with  flowers  in  their  hair,  walking  with 
their  families  on  the  principal  promenades  in  a  manner 
which  denotes  freedom  and  prosperity.  Mulattoes  are 
generally  to  be  found  in  the  tobacco-shops,  either  as  shop- 
men, or  as  the  proprietors  of  the  place.  The  black  in- 
habitants emulate  the  white  in  cigar-smoking ;  many  la- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  417 

dies  of  the  second  and  third  class  are  also  fond  of  smok- 
ing their  cigaritos,  and  it  is  asserted  that,  of  the  popula- 
tion of  Cuba,  one  third  is  occupied  in  the  preparation  of 
the  cigars,  and  that  the  other  two  thirds  smoke  them. 

Two  different  styles  of  physiognomy  are  very  evident 
among  the  population  of  the  city.  The  one  has  refined 
features,  an  oval  countenance,  a  proud  and  often  gloomy 
expression:  this  belongs  to  those  of  Castilian  descent.  The 
second  has  a  round  countenance,  flat,  broad  features,  a  jo- 
vial but  plebeian  expression:  this  marks  the  Catalonian. 
The  former  is  spare  in  form,  the  latter  stout.  The  Cas- 
tilian is  generally  met  with  among  the  government  offi- 
cials, the  Catalonian  among  the  tradespeople.  The  latter 
form  themselves  into  guilds  and  corporations,  and  are  not 
on  good  terms  either  with  Castilians  or  Creoles.  The 
Creoles  are  good  people,  and  seem  to  inherit  from  the  de- 
licious climate  erf  the  island  a  mild  and  inoffensive  tem- 
perament. 

I  had  wished  to  see  in  Jamaica  the  negroes  who  govern 
themselves  as  a  Christian  community;  and  though  I  have 
not  been  able  to  do  so,  I  have  obtained  a  tolerably  clear 
idea  of  their  condition  from  the  elder  Mr.  F.  and  two  of 
his  acquaintance  from  that  island.  It  appears  that  the 
Christianized  negro  remains  very  faithful  to  his  African 
turn  of  mind.  There  have  been  built  for  them,  in  Ja- 
maica, large  houses,  with  convenient  rooms,  kitchens,  and 
gardens,  in  which  they  might  possess  all  the  advantages 
of  the  domicile  and  the  work-shop,  private  life  and  the  life 
of  association  combined ;  but  in  vain  !  The  large,  conven- 
ient stone  house  stands  empty.  The  negro  likes  neither 
stone  nor  association.  The  highest  aim  of  the  negro  is  to 
be  able  to  purchase  his  own  little  plot  of  ground,  a  "mount- 
ain" as  it  is  called,  where  he  can  erect  for  himself  a 
birch-bark  hut  thatched  with  palm-leaves,  plant  his  na- 
tive trees,  and  grow  sugar-cane,  or  maize  and  edible  roots. 
He  labors  to  gain  for  himself  this  earthly  paradise.    When 

S  2 


418  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

he  has  obtained  it,  it  is  his  pleasure  to  rest  and  enjoy  him- 
self as  much  as  possible,  and  to  labor  as  little.  And  why 
should  he  labor  ?  That  ambition,  that  lust  of  knowing 
and  subduing  the  world,  spiritually  or  physically,  with 
which  the  Creator  has  endowed  the  Caucasian  race,  does 
not  belong  to  him.  He,  on  the  contrary,  is  endowed  with 
the  power  of  care-free  enjoyment,  a  gay  temperament,  and 
the  ability  for  measured  songs  and  dances.  The  climate 
under  which  he  is  born  is  propitious  to  the  latter  gifts, 
and  opposed  to  the  former. 

Even  in  trade  the  negro  evinces  his  bias  toward  the  in- 
dividuality of  his  own  little  world,  and  his  disinclination 
or  inability  for  association.  Instead  of  one  great  trading 
house  in  sugar  and  coffee,  the  negroes  open  twenty  small 
shops,  where  each  one  for  himself  sells  sugar  and  coffee, 
without  any  connection  with  the  rest. 

In  consequence  of  this  tendency,  they  do  not  like  to 
work  for  the  larger  planters,  and  require  from  such  ex- 
travagant wages.  If  they  can  not  obtain  as  much  as 
they  desire,  they  prefer  not  working  at  all.  They  can  do 
without  it;  their  wants  are  few,  and  the  beautiful  earth 
feeds  them  with  small  labor. 

Hence  it  happens  that  all  the  great  plantations  in  Ja- 
maica have  declined,  and  their  owners  are  ruined.  The 
greater  number  of  the  large  plantations  may  now  be  pur- 
chased at  very  low  prices.  I  have  heard,  nevertheless,  of 
two  great  planters  in  Jamaica,  the  one  an  Englishman, 
the  other  a  Spaniard,  who  have  had  no  cause  to  complain, 
and  who  have  always  been  able  to  obtain  as  much  negro 
labor  as  they  required ;  but  I  presume  they  did  not  re- 
quire much,  and  that  they  were  on  good  terms  with  the 
negroes. 

And  why  should  not  labor  be  made  cheerful  to  a  cheer- 
ful people?  The  negroes  themselves  seem,  by  their  songs 
in  the  sugar-mill  at  night,  to  show  the  way  and  the  means 
by  which  they  might  work  well.     Let  them  go  out  to 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  419 

labor  to  the  sound  of  music  and  singing,  and  perchance 
their  labor  may  go  on  like  a  dance.  The  Europeans,  how- 
ever, believe  generally  that  no  labor  can  be  carried  on  vig- 
orously without  day's  wages,  or — the  whip ! 

Morning  of  May  8th.  I  had  my  last  great  view  of  Cuba 
from  the  azotea  of  Alfredo  S.'s  house  last  evening  at  sun- 
set. For  the  last  time  have  I  seen  its  beautiful  palm- 
groves,  its  gay,  showy  houses,  its  mild  heaven,  its  bright 
blue  sea.  This  afternoon  I  shall  go  on  board  the  "  Isabel," 
and  bid  farewell  forever  to  the  palms  and  ceibas  of  Cuba,  to 
its  cuculios  and  contra-dances,  to  its  guadarajahs  and  con- 
stellations, to  the  African  drums,  songs,  and  dances,  to  its 
happy  and  its  unhappy  people,  to  its  hell  and  its  paradise! 

I  have  taken  leave  of  my  good  friends,  have  sketched 
the  monument  of  Columbus  on  La  Plaza  des  Armas,  and 
this  morning,  for  the  last  time,  have  I  visited  my  beloved 
Cortina  de  Valdez,  and  seen  the  breakers  dash  around  the 
rocks  of  the  Moro.  On  my  return,  I  called  at  a  restaura- 
teur's to  purchase  des  libros  de  dulces,  which  I  wished  to 
give  to  the  little  girls.  When,  however,  I  was  about  to  pay, 
I  received  back  my  money  from  the  young  man  who  stood 
behind  the  counter,  with  a  polite  "it  costs  nothing,  Sig- 
nora."  I  fancied  I  had  misunderstood  him,  or  that  he 
had  misunderstood  me ;  I  therefore  again  offered  him  the 
money,  but  received  the  same  remark  in  return.  I  then 
recollected  the  Spanish  and  Cuban  gallantry,  and,  looking 
round  the  shop,  I  observed  Mr.  S.  at  some  distance,  near 
the  door,  and  now  it  was  quite  clear  to  me. 

"  Ah,  this  is  one  of  your  Spanish  tricks  !"  said  I  to  him. 
He  smiled,  but  evidently  did  not  wish  to  be  thanked. 

One  day  I  by  chance  admired  a  little  basket  which  his 
wife  held  in  her  hand,  and  immediately  I  was  obliged  to 
accept  it.  All  my  protests  were  in  vain  ;  I  really  became 
afraid  of  admiring  any  thing. 

I  must  now  bid  adieu  to  the  kind  F.'s  and  S.'s,  and 
then  conclude  some  letters. 


420  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

The  next  time  I  write  it  will  be  from  the  United  States. 
I  have  inhaled  new  life  in  Cuba ;  but  I  could  not  live 
there.  I  could  only  live  where  a  life  of  freedom  exists 
and  grows. 


LETTER    XXXVII. 

LETTER   TO    HER    MAJESTY,    CAROLINA    AMELIA,   QUEEN    DOWA- 
GER OF  DENMARK. 

Cuba,  West  Indies,  April. 

Your  Majesty — M Write  to  me  from  America!"  were 
your  majesty's  last  kind  words  to  me  at  parting,  when  I 
had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  your  majesty  at  Sorgenfri.  And 
these  words  have  accompanied  me  on  my  long  journey,  as 
one  of  the  beautiful  and  precious  memories  for  which  I 
have  to  thank  good  Denmark,  because  they  remind  me  of 
the  great  kindness  which  the  Queen  of  Denmark  showed 
to  me.  I  have  wished  to  obey  them  by  presenting  to  your 
majesty,  from  the  soil  of  the  New  World,  some  very  beau- 
tiful spiritual  flowers,  not  unworthy  of  those  roses  which 
your  majesty's  own  beautiful  hand  gave  me,  at  the  mo- 
ment of  parting,  from  your  majesty's  garden.  But  it  was 
long  before  I  found  sufficient  freedom  of  mind  or  tran- 
quillity to  be  able  to  put  together,  from  the  rich  Flora  of 
America,  any  thing  resembling  a  bouquet  or  a  garland 
which  it  seemed  to  me  could  give  pleasure  to  your  maj- 
esty, and  with  less  I  would  not  be  satisfied. 

I  now  write,  beautiful  and  good  Queen  of  Denmark, 
from  the  Queen  of  the  Antilles,  from  the  beautiful  tropical 
Ida  de  Cuba.  And  while  a  glowing  sun  ascends  over 
groves  of  coffee  and  bananas  on  Caffelal  la  Concordia, 
my  present  home;  while  rose-colored  flamingoes  stretch 
out  their  wings  to  cool  them  in  the  morning  wind,  and 
little  negro  children,  naked  as  (rod  created  them,  leap  and 
tumble  about  the  green  meadow,  where  smaragdus-green 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  42] 

humming-birds  flutter  gayly  around  the  hybiscus  flowers, 
I  wing  my  way,  in  spirit,  to  "the  green  islands,"  to  the 
cool,  shadowy  dwelling  where  I  heard  the  nightingales  sing 
in  the  beech- woods  around  your  majesty,  and  convey  thith- 
er, in  these  lines,  my  tribute  of  respect  and  devotion. 

I  can  from  Cuba,  better  than  from  any  other  point  on 
this  side  the  globe,  speak  of  the  New  World,  because  Cuba 
lies  between  North  and  South  America  :  the  Anglo-Nor- 
man and  the  Spanish  races  here  meet,  for  good  and  for 
evil,  secretly  and  openly  combating  for  dominion  ;  and  in 
the  midst  of  this  wondrously  beautiful  scenery,  which  be- 
longs to  the  tropics  (beneath  which  the  greater  part  of 
South  America  is  situated),  beneath  the  tropical  sun,  among 
palm-trees  and  coffee  plantations,  one  sees  already  the 
homes  of  the  North  American,  rail-roads,  and  shops.  The 
Anglo-American  "go-a-head"  here  comes  in  contact  with 
the  motto  of  the  Spanish  Creole,  poco-a-poco  ;  and — will 
run  it  down  sooner  or  later,  that  is  not  difficult  to  foresee. 

While  the  impression  of  the  scenery  of  North  America, 
its  people,  and  states,  was  still  clear  in  the  soul,  it  was  a 
great  refreshment  to  receive  in  this  beautiful  island  so 
strongly  contrasting  a  picture  as  that  of  the  scenery  of 
South  America,  its  people,  and  its  states  ;  for  both  belong 
essentially  to  the  picture  of  the  New  World  ;  and  North 
America  presents,  in  scenery,  culture,  and  manners,  merely 
one  half  thereof.  That  southern  half,  with  its  yet  unor- 
ganized states,  its  chaotic  popular  life,  its  rich,  grand  scen- 
ery, its  River  Amazon,  and  its  Andes,  its  palms,  and  its 
eternal  summer,  will  still,  in  contact  with  the  northern 
portion,  develop  a  glorious  life — not  so  strong,  perhaps, 
but  more  gentle  and  beautiful.  And  both  will  become 
one  in  that  great  human  kingdom  which  is  growing  up 
between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans,  between  the 
North  Sea  and  the  South.  For  although  South  America 
does  not  as  yet  show  either  a  people  or  character  which 
demands  esteem  or  admiration ;  although  it  as  yet  appears 


422  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

subject  to  nature  instead  of  elevating  itself  above  her,  is 
enervated  by  the  sun  instead  of  being  inspired  by  its  glow- 
ing and  pure  light,  yet  we  still  know  that  it  was  in  this 
climate,  beneath  this  sun,  these  palms,  that  the  worship- 
ers of  the  sun,  the  Peruvians,  .and  those  noble  Aztecs, 
lived  ;  that  it  was  in  this  climate,  beneath  this  sun,  and 
these  palms  in  the  East,  that  the  most  ancient  wisdom,  the 
most  ancient  poetry,  was  born  on  the  earth;  the  Vedas  of 
the  Hindoos,  their  temples,  the  ruins  of  which  still  excite 
our  admiration,  their  songs  and  poems,  Sakuntala  Urvasi 
and  Vikrama,  and  many  more,  graceful  and  noble,  such 
as  only  could  be  composed  beneath  palm-trees  and  in  an 
atmosphere  such  as  this ;  those  intellectual  legends,  the 
game  of  chess,  the  airy  dance  of  the  Bayadere,  and  many 
another  art  and  science  for  the  beautifying  of  life,  which 
could  only  have  birth  where  the  life  of  nature  holds  its 
holiday.  And  that  which  has  once  flourished  may,  under 
similar  circumstances,  again  come  forth  in  new,  or  still 
more  elevated  forms.  The  Oriental  tropical  zone  has  pro- 
duced its  bloom ;  that  of  the  "West  will  bring  forth  hers 
in  the  light  of  Christianity.  As  yet  we  can  merely  sur- 
mise what  it  will  one  day  become — surmise  that  from  the 
glorious  natural  life  which  now  is  its  most  beautiful  pro- 
duction. 

But  it  was  about  the  people  and  the  states  of  North 
America  that  your  majesty  wished  to  hear,  and  of  these 
I  will  proceed  to  speak ;  for,  however  much  your  majesty 
loves  the  beautiful  in  nature,  I  know  that  your  majesty 
loves  still  more  that  which  gives  to  human  weal  and  hu- 
man happiness  a  still  higher  significance.  Is  not  your 
majesty  one  of  the  mothers  of  humanity,  one  of  the  noble 
and  the  tender,  who  embrace  the  young  generation  in  order 
to  elevate  them,  and  bring  them  nearer  to  the  father  of 
love  and  perfection?  Was  it  not  surrounded  by  fatherless 
and  motherless  children,  who  looked  up  to  your  majesty 
as  to  a  mother,  that  I  first  saw  your  majesty,  that  Christ- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  423 

mas-eve,  when  the  Christmas  candles  burned  in  the  North- 
ern pine  for  the  joy  of  the  children  and  in  honor  of  the 
heavenly  friend  of  childhood  !  And  have  not  I,  more  than 
once,  heard  your  majesty  express  the  wish  and  the  hope 
for  "a  community  on  earth  in  which  all  the  members 
should  have  equal  opportunity  for  the  attainment  of  virtue, 
knowledge,  a  life  of  activity  and  prosperity — a  community 
in  which  goodness  and  capacity  should  constitute  the  high- 
est aristocracy,  and  in  which  the  highest  rank  should  de- 
pend upon  the  highest  human  worth?" 

And,  however  far  the  United  States  of  America  may 
be  from  having  attained  to  this  ideal  of  social  life,  still  it 
can  not  be  denied  that  it  is  at  this  that  they  are  aiming, 
toward  this  to  which  they  are  daily  more  and  more  ad- 
vancing— more,  perhaps,  than  any  other  nation  on  the 
earth.  This  refers  especially  to  the  Northern  and  the  free 
states  of  the  Union,  which  are  peopled  principally  by  de- 
scendants of  the  oldest  Pilgrims,  and  whence  the  Quaker 
State  has  every  where  sent  abroad  its  messengers  of  "the 
inward  light,"  of  freedom,  peace,  and  universal  brother- 
hood. These  Northern  States  are  founded  on  enthusiasm 
for  religion  and  human  rights.  And  upon  this  foundation 
have  they  grown  great  and  powerful,  and  still  grow  day 
by  day,  extending  their  dominion  more  and  more. 

The  Southern  States  acknowledge,  it  is  true,  the  same 
principles  of  freedom,  human  rights,  and  human  well-be- 
ing as  their  aim  also,  but  they  bear  a  fetter  which  im- 
pedes their  progress  on  the  path  of  human  and  social  de- 
velopment, and  which  they  in  part  will  not,  and  in  part 
can  not,  now  throw  off,  namely,  the  institution  of  slave- 
ry. They  have  bound  the  negro  as  a  slave,  and  the  ne- 
gro slave  binds  them ;  prevents  them  from  developing  ed- 
ucation, industry,  and  every  good  social  institution  which 
gives  strength  and  greatness  to  a  nation. 

It  is  a  pure  and  noble  joy  to  behold  the  development 
of  the  life  of  freedom  in  the  Northern  States;  and  in  spite 


424  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

of  various  pernicious  offshoots,  which  as  yet  run  wild  and 
produce  disorder,  the  whole  presents  a  glorious  spectacle. 
For  the  whole  movement  of  the  social  system  tends  up- 
ward; it  is  a  growth  of  cultivation  and  improvement 
which  embraces  all  classes,  every  branch  of  activity,  and 
which  extends  to  the  most  remote  points,  and  includes 
the  most  humble  individual.  It  corresponds  with  the  glo- 
rious image  of  our  mythological  Ygdrasil,  of  which  every 
single  leaf  derives  vital  aliment  from  the  common  root, 
and  is  watered  by  the  Noma's  hand  from  the  renovating 
fountain  of  Urda. 

Besides,  the  community  has  come  clearly  to  feel  with- 
in itself,  and  has  clearly  and  forcibly  expressed  the  same 
in  word  and  deed,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  state  so  to 
provide  for  every  individual  member  that  he  may  become 
a  perfected  human  being. 

Hence  the  comprehensive  and  excellent  system  of  pop- 
ular education  which  commenced  in  the  "  pilgrim"  State 
of  Massachusetts,  and  which  has  since  been  adopted,  and 
is  being  adopted,  with  modifications  and  improvements,  in 
all  the  free  states  of  the  Union.  On  all  hands  have  arisen 
free  public  schools,  where  children,  boys  and  girls,  in  sep- 
arate schools,  receive  free  education  to  fifteen  or  sixteen 
years  of  age,  when  they  may,  from  these  schools,  enter 
the  high-schools  and  academies,  unless  they  prefer  to  en- 
ter practical  life  with  that  amount  of  knowledge  which 
the  public  schools  have  given  them,  and  which  does  not 
appear  to  be  so  insignificant,  as  many  of  the  ubest  men" 
and  the  first  statesmen  have  not  studied  in  any  other 
schools  than  in  these  and — in  that  of  life. 

I  would,  before  every  thing  else,  present  to  the  woman- 
ly and  maternal  mind  of  your  majesty  these  great  and  in- 
creasingly developing  institutions  for  the  education  of  the 
rising  generation,  which  are  open  to  the  younger  mem- 
bers of  the  entire  community,  and  which  are  advantageous 
to  the  children  of  the  indigent  still  more  than  to  the  chil- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  425 

dren  of  the  wealthy,  and,  together  with  this  picture,  that 
of  the  increasing  importance  of  the  young  woman  in  so- 
ciety as  the  teacher,  and  that  not  alone  in  families  and 
homes.  I  would  present  to  your  majesty's  view  those 
large,  cheerful  school-rooms  which  are  now  to  be  met 
with  in  the  public  schools  from  Massachusetts  to  Wiscon- 
sin and  Illinois,  from  New  Hampshire  to  Ohio,  where  light 
and  air  obtain  free  access— school-rooms  full  of  lovely 
children,  with  bright,  animated  glances,  and  where  the 
young  teachers,  the  daughters  of  New  England,  and  the 
honor  of  New  England,  refined  and  graceful  in  manners 
and  appearance,  stand,  at  the  same  time,  firmer  to  their 
principles  than  the  earth's  Alps  and  Andes  on  their  foun- 
dations, and  govern  their  troops  of  young  republicans 
easier  and  better  than  any  stern  M.  A.  with  thundering 
voice  and  ferule. 

The  youthful  daughters  of  America  in  the  free  states 
of  the  Union  are  hot  kept  in  ignorance  and  inactivity,  as 
are  still  the  greater  number  of  the  young  girls  of  Europe. 
They  are  early  taught  that  they  must  rely  upon  God  and 
themselves  if  they  would  win  esteem  and  independent 
worth ;  they  leave  home  early  to  enter  the  schools,  where 
opportunity  is  afford ed  them  to  advance  as  far  as  young 
men  in  study  and  the  sciences,  and  where  they  prove  that 
the  sciences,  which  have  hitherto  been  considered  as  too 
difficult  for  them,  are  as  easy  for  them  to  acquire  as  that 
superficial  knowledge  and  accomplishment  to  which  hith- 
erto their  education  has  been  restricted,  They  distin- 
guish themselves  in  mathematics,  algebra,  the  physical 
sciences,  the  ancient  languages,  at  least  in  Latin,  and 
many  other  hitherto  interdicted  branches  of  learning ;  and 
their  written  compositions,  in  verse  and  prose,  show  an  un- 
usual purity  of  style,  considering  their  age,  clearness  of 
thought,  and  expansion  of  mental  horizon.  It  is  evident 
that  the  spirit  of  the  New  "World  has  unbound  their  intel- 
lectual wings,  and  permitted  them  a  free  flight  over  the 


426  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

fields  of  earth.  The  American  woman  is  being  formed 
for  a  citizen  of  the  world ;  she  is  teaching  herself  to  em- 
brace the  whole  of  humanity.  Such  is  evidently  the  in- 
tention of  her  school  education,  even  if  an  adequate  sys- 
tem be  yet  wanting.  GHrls  may  from  these  schools  also 
advance  into  the  high-schools  and  ladies'  academies,  in 
which  they  can  graduate  and  take  diplomas,  and,  provid- 
ed with  these,  go  out  as  teachers  over  the  whole  Union. 

Such  are,  in  particular,  the  daughters  of  New  England, 
who  seem  to  have  a  peculiar  vocation  for  the  office  of  teach- 
er, which  they  adopt  most  frequently  from  love  rather  than 
necessity.  Every  where  throughout  the  United  States, 
in  the  west  as  well  as  in  the  north  and  south  of  the  Union, 
wherever  schools  are  in  operation,  you  meet  with  young 
teachers  from  the  States  of  New  England,  that  is  to  say, 
from  those  states  which  are  peopled  by  the  descendants  of 
the  Pilgrim  Fathers.  And  the  value  of  women  as  teach- 
ers of  the  young  increases  more  and  more  in  America. 

But  it  is  not  merely  as  teachers  that  the  spirit  of  the 
New  World  seeks  to  prepare  for  woman  a  freer  develop- 
ment of  her  being,  and  a  wider  sphere  of  activity ;  it  seeks 
to  open  for  her  free  paths  in  arts  and  manufactures. 

"  If  I  must  choose  between  giving  education  to  the 
men  or  the  women  of  a  country,  I  would  leave  the  men 
and  begin  with  the  women,"  said  one  of  the  legislators  of 
this  country  to  me  one  day. 

And  I  believe  that  I  do  not  say  too  much  when  I  main- 
tain that  this  mode  of  thinking  is  participated  by  the 
greater  number  of  men  in  the  United  States;  so  strong 
is  the  conviction  of  the  power  of  woman's  influence  on  the 
rising  generation. 

The  advancement  of  the  higher  development  of  woman, 
and  her  importance  in  society,  is  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able features  of  the  New  World's  cultivation,  its  greatest 
merit  and  its  principal  labor  for  the  future.  All  that  is 
now  wanting  is  merely  that  it  does  not  stop  half  way.     I 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  ±27 

do  not  believe  that  the  right-mindedness  and  chivalry  of 
the  men  will  fail,  if  the  women  will,  with  discretion  and 
noble  earnestness,  take  the  place  which  society  here  is 
willing  to  assign  to  them. 

It  is  with  justice  that  we  are  accustomed  to  estimate 
the  measure  of  a  nation's  cultivation  by  the  estimation  in 
which  woman  is  held,  and  the  place  which  she  occupies 
in  society,  because  it  requires  no  small  degree  of  spiritual 
culture  to  value  a  being  whose  highest  power  is  of  a  spir- 
itual character.  The  people  of  America  have  shown  them- 
selves to  be  possessed  of  this,  and  it  will  increase  in  the 
same  proportion  as  the  women  of  the  country  make  them- 
selves deserving  of  it. 

I  mentioned  a  growth  of  cultivation  and  improvement 
which  in  the  free  states  embraces  the  entire  community, 
and  spoke  of  popular  education  as  its  most  essential  power. 
This,  and  many  institutions  favorable  to  human  develop- 
ment, belong  to  these  states ;  but,  besides  these,  there  is  a 
movement,  a  free  development  in  popular  life,  which  may 
be  compared  to  the  circulation  of  the  sap  in  a  vigorous, 
growing  tree.  Free  associations  now  take  the  place  of  the 
old  guilds  and  corporations  as  regulators  and  promoters 
of  all  the  various  interests  and  functions  of  the  social  sys- 
tem. Thus  have  religious,  moral,  and  industrial  corpora- 
tions arisen  within  the  great  community,  and  in  faithful 
adherence  to  it,  at  the  same  time  that  the  good-will  and 
the  divers  powers  and  talents  of  each  individual  are  made 
available  to  its  highest  interests.  The  United  States  rep- 
resent, at  the  same  time,  the  highest  development  of  the 
individual  and  the  public  at  large.  This  internal,  social 
movement  of  humanity  is  assisted  from  without,  by  the 
free  circulation  and  communication  which  is  afforded  by 
the  numerous  navigable  rivers  of  North  America,  upon 
which  thousands  of  steam-boats  go  and  come ;  and  in  still 
later  years  by  the  rail-roads  and  telegraphic  lines  which 
extend  over  all  parts  of  America,  from  state  to  state,  and 


428  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

from  city  to  city.  The  great  diffusion  of  newspapers  with- 
in the  country,  of  every  book  which  wins  the  love  of  the 
popular  heart,  of  that  religious  popular  literature  which, 
in  millions  of  small  works,  "  tracts,"  or  tales,  is  poured 
forth  over  the  nation  like  morning  dew  or  a  shower  of 
manna — these  all  belong  essentially  to  this  life-giving  cir- 
culation, and  wherever  the  Anglo-American  advances,  the 
same  cultivation,  the  same  vitality  arises.  He  accom- 
plishes with  astonishing  certainty  his  mission  as  cultiva- 
tor of  the  New  World,  and  the  framer  of  free,  self-govern- 
ing communities  ;  and  not  even  the  institution  of  slavery 
is  able  to  withstand  the  power  of  cultivation  which  ad- 
vances with  him  over  the  earth. 

Wherever  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  Pilgrims  find 
their  way,  there  are  established  homes,  schools,  and  church- 
es, shops,  and  legislative  assemblies;  the  free  press,  hotels 
for  strangers,  and  asylums  for  the  unfortunate  or  the  or- 
phan; there  is  the  prison  converted  into  the  reformatory 
institution — into  a  new  school  for  the  ignorant  and  de«- 
praved  children  of  the  earth.  Wherever  they  come,  they 
acknowledge  aloud  the  name  and  doctrines  of  the  Master 
who  is  "  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life."  The  right 
of  the  Anglo-American  people  to  become  a  great  people 
consists  in  its  Christianity.  It  is  the  spirit  of  the  World's 
Redeemer  which  makes  it  the  World's  Conqueror. 

When  we  leave  the  Northeastern  States,  where  first  the 
standards  of  religion  and  freedom  were  planted,  and  pro- 
ceed westward  to  the  limits  of  the  wilderness  beyond  the 
Mississippi,  where  the  Indian  still  hunts  the  deer,  erects 
his  wigwam,  and  kindles  his  nocturnal  fires,  then  it  is  that 
we  are  at  first  aware  of  the  advance  and  mode  of  this  new 
cultivation. 

Your  majesty  has  certainly  often  read  descriptions  of 
the  wonderful  waterfall,  Niagara;  of  the  almost  miracu- 
lous prairies  of  the  West,  where  the  sun  mirrors  his  image 
in  an  ocean  of  sunflowers  waving  in  the  wind;  of  the 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  429 

rapid  growth  of  states  and  cities  in  the  Great  West ;  of  the 
great  River  Mississippi,  and  the  gold  mines  of  California, 
and  many  other  lions  of  the  Great  West. 

But  less  known  are  the  first  steps  of  cultivation,  its 
first  impress  on  the  wilderness ;  and  this  it  was,  together 
with  the  great  spectacle  of  Nature,  which  most  attracted 
my  earliest  attention;  for  it  is  amusing  to  observe  the 
first  steps  of  the  child,  and  how  he  advances  and  grows 
to  man's  estate.  It  is  an  image  worthy  the  regards  of  a 
motherly  queen. 

The  trees  fall  before  the  ax  along  the  banks  of  the  river 
— and  rivers  every  where  abound  in  North  America — a 
little  log-house  is  erected  on  the  skirts  of  the  forest  and 
the  banks  of  the  river;  a  woman  stands  in  the  door-way 
with  a  little  chubby  child  in  her  arms.  The  husband  has 
dug  up  the  earth  around  the  house,  and  planted  maize; 
beyond  graze  a  couple  of  fat  cows,  and  some  sheep  in  the 
free,  uninciosed  meadow-land.  The  husband  tills  the  land, 
and  milks  the  cows,  and  performs  the  whole  out-of-doors 
labor.  The  wife  remains  in  the  house,  and  takes  care  of 
child  and  home;  nor  can  any  woman  do  it  better.  The 
cleanliness  and  order  of  her  person  are  reflected  by  every 
thing  within  the  house.  No  neater  nor  more  excellent 
home  can  be  found  on  the  face  of  the  earth  than  that  of 
the  American  woman,  even  of  the  poorest.  No  wonder 
that  the  husband  is  happy  within  it — that  the  American 
knows  few  other  pleasures  than  those  which  he  finds  in 
his  home,  no  other  goal  of  bliss  on  earth  than  that  of  pos- 
sessing a  good  wife — a  good  home ! 

The  log-house  has  been  erected  in  the  forest,  and  not 
far  from  it  are  erected,  in  the  same  way,  two  or  three 
other  log-houses  ;  they  all  are  furnished  with  excellent 
beds,  and  there  always  lies  on  the  shelf  a  Bible,  a  hymn- 
book,  and  some  other  religious  books.  A  little  further  off 
stands  a  somewhat  larger  log-house,  where  a  dozen  or  two 
children — the  half-wild  offspring  of  the  wilderness — are 


430  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

assembled.  This  is  the  school.  The  room  is  poor,  and 
without  furniture;  but  the  walls  are  covered  with  maps 
of  all  parts  of  the  globe,  and  in  the  hands  of  the  children 
are  books  which  present  them  with  views  over  the  whole 
world,  and  reading-books  which  contain  the  noblest  pearls 
of  literature,  in  paragraphs,  short  essays,  narratives,  poems, 
&c.  Anon  other  houses  spring  up ;  some  of  framed  tim- 
ber, some  of  stone ;  they  become  more  and  more  ornament- 
al ;  they  surround  themselves  with  fruit  trees  and  flowers  ; 
you  see  a  chapel  of  wood  arising  at  the  same  time  with 
the  wooden  houses ;  but  when  the  stone  houses  come,  there 
come  also  a  stone  church  and  a  state-house.  The  fields 
around  are  covered  with  harvests;  flocks  and  herds  in- 
crease ;  and  before  long  you  behold  one  or  two  steam-boats 
advancing  up  the  river ;  they  lie-to  at  the  new  buildings ; 
they  purchase  wares  and  cattle,  and  leave  newspapers  be- 
hind them.  In  two  or  three  years  there  is  here  a  little 
city  of  two  thousand  souls ;  motherly  women  institute  Sun- 
day-schools in  the  church,  and  assemble  the  little  children 
to  instruct  them  in  Christianity,  and  establish  an  asylum 
for  orphaned  little  ones.  Shops  spring  up  at  the  same 
time  with  the  school  and  the  church,  and  they  constitute, 
together  with  the  printing-press  and  the  state-house,  the 
ensign  of  the  Anglo-American ;  and  wherever  he  plants 
this,  thence  retreats  the  red  man,  now  almost  without 
resistance,  with  his  wigwam  and  his  subjected  women, 
and  goes  to  light  his  fires  further  off  in  the  wilderness. 
He  knows,  by  experience,  that  the  new  erections  which 
he  beholds  will,  within  a  quarter  of  a  century,  become  a 
great  city,  with  its  fifty  thousand  inhabitants  or  more,  and 
that  the  whole  region  round  about  will  be  full  of  a  people 
alike  potent  in  war  as  in  peaceful  civilization. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  progress  of  the  new  man  in  the 
West;  but  I  must,  for  the  sake  of  justice,  also  say  a  few 
words  about  the  old  man,  for  ah  !  the  old  progresses 
equally  with  the  new,  and  he  is  here  also,  on  the  new 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  43 j 

earth,  the  same  old  sinner,  and  drinks,  and  quarrels,  and 
gambles,  and  steals,  and  makes  a  fool  of  himself,  and  is 
puffed  up  with  pride,  tout  comme  chez  nous;  and  in  the 
Great  West,  on  the  Mississippi  and  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
perhaps  a  little  more  so,  because  many  unconscientious 
adventurers  are  collected  there,  and  the  counteracting 
powers  have  not  yet  gained  an  ascendency.  Freedom  is 
still  sowing  its  wild  oats  here.  One  great  difficulty  in 
the  cultivation  of  the  West  is  the  great  emigration  thither 
of  a  large  portion  of  the  most  rude  and  indigent  popula- 
tion of  Europe,  as  well  as  the  unfortunate  children  of  the 
Eastern  American  States.  By  degrees,  however,  this  pop- 
ulation becomes  orderly  under  the  influence  of  the  New 
World's  cultivation,  and  with  every  passing  year  the  new 
Adam  gains  a  greater  ascendency  over  the  old,  in  propor- 
tion as  the  better  emigration  from  the  Pilgrim  States 
gains  a  firmer  footing,  and  with  this,  schools,  churches, 
and  the  better  periodical  press  take  their  place. 

The  valley  of  the  Mississippi  has  room  for  about  two 
hundred  millions  of  inhabitants,  and  the  American  Union 
has  a  heart  large  enough,  and  sufficient  power  to  take 
under  her  charge  all  strangers,  all  neglected  or  unfortu- 
nate children  of  the  earth,  and  to  give  them  a  portion  of 
her  earth  and  of  her  spiritual  life. 

This  Mississippi  Valley — the  central  region  of  North 
America — presents  in  its  entire  extent  all  the  principal 
features  which  distinguish  the  great  realm  of  North 
America,  in  which  I  also,  as  far  as  people  and  scenery 
are  concerned,  include  the  English  colonies  in  the  North. 
It  includes,  from  the  springs  of  the  Mississippi,  in  the 
northern  Minnesota,  to  the  South,  where  the  Great  River 
empties  itself  into  the  Mexican  Gulf,  every  climate,  with 
the  exception  of  the  most  northerly,  all  productions  which 
this  hemisphere  brings  forth,  all  people  who  inhabit  her 
soil.  The  Indian  is  still  found  in  prosperity  at  Minneso- 
ta ;  pine-forests  are  native  there,  and  winter  is  vigorous  as 


432  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

with  us.  There  are  glorious  springs  of  water,  rivers  and 
lakes  abounding  in  fish,  rich  hunting-ground,  and  good 
arable  land,  though  as  yet  un tilled..  The  Norwegian  and 
the  Dane  have  begun  to  turn  it  up ;  but  the  colonies 
proper  of  these  nations  and  the  Swedes  are  to  the  south  of 
Minnesota,  in  the  States  of  Wisconsin  and  Illinois,  where 
the  natural  scenery  is  that  of  a  grand  and  cheerful  pas- 
toral. A  new  Scandinavia  is  here  growing  up  by  degrees ; 
and  it  is  a  joy  to  me  to  be  able  to  testify  that  our  coun- 
trymen are  universally  regarded  as  a  valuable,  industri- 
ous, and  good  people.  They  are  obliged  .to  work  hard  and 
to  dispense  with  many  comforts  at  the  commencement ; 
but  the -more  the  number  of  laborers  increases,  the  lighter 
becomes  labor,  the  richer  the  harvests  which  the  univers- 
ally productive  soil  yields  to  them.  The  Norwegians  con- 
stitute the  agricultural  core  of  the  Scandinavian  popula- 
tion ;  the  Danes,  in  comparison  with  these,  are  few  in 
number,  and  I  have  found  here  that  the  Danes  more  gen- 
erally devote  themselves  to  trade  than  agriculture. 

The  great  corn  region  proper  of  North  America  begins 
in  Wisconsin  and  Illinois ;  and  that  immense  corn  dis- 
trict, which  is  continued  on  both  sides  of  the  Mississippi 
to  the  states  of  Kentucky  and  Missouri,  is  said  to  be  ca- 
pable of  producing  bread-stuffs  for  all  the  states  of  the 
Union,  that  is  to  say,  when  it  becomes  fully  cultivated. 
One  sees  there  indeed,  at  the  present  time,  vast  plains 
waving  with  golden  maize,  but  still  vaster  upon  which, 
as  yet,  only  tall  grass  and  wild  flowers  grow.  Germans 
and  the  Irish  flock  to  this  region.  Half  the  population  of 
the  larger  cities  consists  of  Germans ;  they  have  their 
concerts,  their  shooting-grounds,  their  dances,  and  they 
drink  beer  as  in  the  Old  World,  while  they  participate  in 
the  legislative  and  commercial  life  of  the  New. 

Lower  down,  in  Kentucky  and  Missouri,  commences 
the  region  of  cotton.  There  cotton  plantations  and  slave 
villages  are  to  be  seen.     To  this  succeeds  the  region  of 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  433 

the  sugar-cane,  with  warm  summer  winds  and  the  sun  in 
the  middle  of  winter,  beautiful  plantations,  and  groves  of 
orange  and  magnolia  trees.  Here  is  Louisiana,  the  most 
southern  of  the  Mississippi  States. 

Here  we  meet  with  the  French  and  Spaniards,  as  well 
as  people  from  all  the  countries  of  the  world,  all  submit- 
ting to  the  laws  and  government  of  the  Anglo-American. 

These  Southern  States  present,  in  their  institution  and 
scenery,  a  peculiar  feature  in  the  life  of  the  United  States. 
The  traveler  in  these  Southern  States  is  not  edified ;  no 
ideal  of  social  life  elevates  here  his  mind  and  his  glance ; 
no  public  endeavor  is  made  here,  as  in  the  individual  and 
governmental  life  of  the  free  states.  But  he  is  amused 
by  the  many  novel  and  unusual  objects  which  present 
themselves  to  his  gaze  ;  he  meets  many  unusually  culti- 
vated and  agreeable  people,  shining  out  like  diamonds  in 
the  sand.  A  new  world  of  nature  full  of  treasures  is 
opened  to  him — the  enchantment  of  the  peculiar  scenery 
of  the  South,  the  delicious  character  of  the  atmosphere 
during  the  greater  part  of  the  year,  the  primeval  forests 
along  the  banks  of  the  red  rivers,  with  their  thousand  va- 
rieties of  trees,  flowers,  and  creeping  vegetation,  the  song 
of  the  hundred-tongued  bird,  the  nightingale  of  America 
(Turdus  polyg-lottus),  and  the  pleasant  but  monotonous 
whistling  "  Whip-poor-will ;"  the  many  glorious  trees, 
live-oaks,  with  their  long,  waving  mosses,  the  magnolia, 
with  its  large,  snow-white  flowers,  cypresses,  tulip  and 
amber  trees,  and  fan-palms  ;  the  richness  of  sunshine, 
flower  odors,  birds'  songs,  and  delicious  fruits ;  and,  in 
the  midst  of  this  beautiful  natural  scenery,  the  negro  peo- 
ple, with  their  peculiar  life,  which  slavery  can  not  oblit- 
erate ;  their  religious  festivals,  hymns,  and  cheerful  songs 
^— the  traveler  is  not  edified  and  animated,  as  in  the  North 
of  the  Union,  by  noble  and  magnificent  efforts  and  institu- 
tions, but  he  rests  and  enjoys,  when  he  is  not  disturbed 
by  any  new,  bitter  experience  of  that  injustice  which  the 

Vor,  II.— T 


434  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

laws  here  give  rise  to,  or  provoked  by  persons  who,  con- 
trary to  truth  and  sound  reason,  justify  it  as  a  good  and 
allowable  thing. 

The  contest  respecting  slavery  is  the  great  contested 
question  of  America,  and  will  continue  to  be  so,  unless 
slavery  ceases  to  exist  there ;  because  this  institution  is 
too  evident  a  lie  against  the  American  social  principle,  too 
crying  an  outrage  against  justice  and  humanity. 

Still  it  must  be  conceded  that  the  social  spirit  of  Amer- 
ica has  of  late  years  tended  greatly  to  ameliorate  the  con- 
dition of  the  slaves,  and  it  may  with  truth  be  stated  that 
this  improves  year  by  year.  The  nobler  popular  feeling 
in  the  Southern  States  is  doing,  at  this  moment,  a  great 
deal  toward  raising  the  condition  of  the  black  population, 
spiritually  as  well  as  temporally.  The  G-ospel  is  preached 
more  and  more  generally  to  the  slaves — especially  in  those 
states  where  the  religious  life  was  strong  of  old,  Georgia 
and  Carolina — and  wherever  it  is  preached,  there  is  the 
slave  elevated  ;  there  he  forms  religious  communities,  and 
there  he  himself  preaches  the  Savior  and  redemption  with 
joy  and  with  power,  and  sings  in  honor  of  the  Savior 
hymns,  of  the  beauty  and  the  harmony  of  which  no  idea 
can  be  formed  by  those  who  merely  judge  of  the  musical 
talent  of  the  African  from  the  songs  and  screeches  of  his 
wild  condition.  Yes,  if  the  legislation  of  the  Southern 
States  would  follow  in  the  steps  of  the  Grpspel,  a  great 
work  would  then  be  accomplished,  and  they  would  pre- 
pare for  themselves  a  great  future. 

If  we  contemplate  the  present  condition  of  the  slaves 
from  its  best  side  in  the  American  States,  we  shall  find  it 
to  be,  under  a  good  master,  a  tranquil  life  without  a  fu- 
ture, but  not  without  its  enjoyment.  The  slave  on  the 
plantation  has  his  own  neat  little  house,  his  own  garden, 
and,  besides  this,  his  pig  and  his  poultry.  His  labor  is 
moderate,  and  he  can  make  his  days  somewhat  cheerful ; 
his  children  are  well  fed,  and  he  does  not  trouble  himself 


HOMES   OF  THE   NEW  WORLD.  435 

about  the  morrow.  The  house-slaves,  in  good  families, 
are  still  better  off,  still  better  cared  for,  as  regards  their 
dwelling  and  their  old  age,  than  free  servants  even  are 
sometimes  with  us. 

But  it  is  not  right  to  give  one  human  being  an  irrespons- 
ible right  over  another.  No  human  circumstances  can 
be  more  horrible  and  more  hopeless  than  those  of  the  slave 
under  a  bad  master,  and  proof  enough  of  this  is  found  in 
the  every-day  history  of  slavery  in  the  United  States.  Be- 
sides this,  the  institution  carries  along  with  it  unhappy 
and  degrading  results,  both  as  regards  the  white  and  the 
black  population,  which  not  even  the  best  master  can  ob- 
viate. Even  the  best  master  may  die,  or  may  fall  into 
pecuniary  difficulties,  and  his  servants  be  sold  to  any  who 
will  purchase  them.  Slavery,  to  the  really  good  and  no- 
ble slave-owners  in  these  states,  is  the  source  of  anxiety 
and  sorrow,  and  they  regard  it  as  a  misfortune  of  which 
they  would  gladly  be  rid.  And  many  of  them  are  la- 
boring silently  for  this  purpose  in  their  own  immediate 
spheres. 

In  this  rapid  sketch  of  some  of  the  principal  features  in 
the  great  community  of  the  United  States,  I  must  of  neces- 
sity pass  over  some  of  the  lesser  ones,  which,  nevertheless, 
like  genre-pictures  in  a  gallery  of  paintings,  serve  to  give 
the  whole  a  varied  and  more  lively  interest.  I  must, 
however,  mention  among  these  some  small  communities 
which  exist  independently  in  the  great  community,  al- 
though they  are  separated  from  it  by  their  modes  and  cus- 
toms ;  as,  for  instance,  the  Quakers,  with  their  simple  cos- 
tume, their  thee  and  thou  to  all  the  world,  their  silent  di- 
vine worship,  their  women,  who  are  allowed  to  preach  and 
participate  in  church  and  social  government;  the  Shakers, 
with  their  dancing  divine  worship ;  and  those  small  So- 
cialist communities  which  seek  in  a  spirit  of  love  to  make 
all  true  workers  participate  alike  in  the  good  gifts  of  the 
earth. 


436  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Among  the  peculiar,  picturesque  scenes  of  the  American 
soil  must  be  mentioned  public  baptisms  on  the  banks  of 
rivers  and  lakes,  where  both  white  and  black  neophytes 
are  initiated  into  a  life  of  holiness ;  and  the  religious  fes- 
tivals, called  "camp-meetings,"  where,  in  the  depth  of 
night  and  the  forest,  by  the  flames  of  fire-altars,  thousands 
of  voices  uniting  in  harmonious  hymns,  and  souls  trem- 
bling in  religious  ecstasy,  are  alternated  with  abundance 
both  in  eating  and  drinking.  These  festivals  are  the  sat- 
urnalia of  the  negro  slaves,  and  their  prayers  and  songs 
are  as  ardent  and  living  as  the  sun  of  the  South. 

When  we  leave  the  United  States  and  betake  ourselves 
to  the  southern  hemisphere  of  America,  we  find  that  in 
three  days'  time  we  have  removed  into  a  new  world.  And 
this  first  meets  us,  as  in  Cuba.  Heaven  and  earth,  the 
people,  language,  laws,  manners,  style  of  building,  every 
thing  is  new,  and  the  refreshment  produced  by  this  rapid 
change  of  scene  is  indescribable,  although,  at  the  time, 
every  thing  in  it  is  not  good. 

The  scenery  of  South  America,  its  dominant  people  and 
language,  meet  us  in  Cuba ;  we  are  in  the  region  of  the 
palm,  of  the  tropical  sun,  of  the  language  and  rule  of  the 
Spaniard.  One  half  of  America  belongs  to  the  Grermanic 
and  Anglo-Norman  race,  the  other  half  to  the  Roman.  In 
the  former  Protestantism  prevails,  in  the  latter  Catholi- 
cism. But  in  Cuba,  that  glorious  island,  situated  between 
the  two  hemispheres,  in  the  midst  of  the  salt  sea  of  the 
world,  both  races  seem  to  have  met — whether  for  war  or 
for  peaceful  union,  it  is  not  yet  possible  to  say. 

Cuba  is  also  at  the  present  moment  a  field  of  combat 
for  the  powers  of  light  and  of  darkness,  and  seldom,  indeed, 
are  they  seen  on  earth  to  stand  so  close  to  each  other,  or 
in  stronger  contrast. 

On  the  dark  side  stand  the  Church  and  the  state ;  the 
state  with  its  rule  of  violence  and  despotism  (Spain  blind- 
ly governing  her  distant  colonies  by  deputies,  over  whom 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  437 

the  mother-country  can  have  no  control,  and  who  deny  to 
the  Creoles  all  right  of  self-government);  the  Church, 
which  exists  merely  in  pompous  ceremonial,  and  is  defi- 
cient in  all  spiritual  life.  On  the  night-side  lies  prominent- 
ly slavery,  which  exists  in  Cuba  in  its  worst  form  ;  and 
the  slave-trade  with  Africa,  which  is  said  to  be  of  daily 
occurrence,  although  not  openly.  The  government  of  the 
island  receives  bribes  from  the  slave-traders,  and  shuts  its 
eyes  to  the  thousands  of  slaves  who  are  annually  landed 
on  the  island.  Nay,  it  is  asserted  that  it  is  privately  not 
unwilling  to  see  the  island  filled  with  wild  Africans,  be- 
cause the  dread  of  the  unrestrained  power  of  these,  if  they 
should  one  day  emancipate  themselves,  restrains  the  Cre- 
oles from  rebellion  against  a  government  which  they  can 
not  do  other  than  hate.  Government  oppresses  the  slave- 
owner, the  slave-owner  oppresses  the  slave,  and  knows  no 
other  means  of  subjecting  him  but  the  whip  and  the  chain. 
The  sugar-planters  not  un frequently  work  their  slaves 
harder  than  beasts  of  burden,  and  require  from  them  a 
greater  amount  of  labor  than  human  nature  can  sustain. 
In  the  prison  walls  of  the  bohea  the  slaves  live  like  brute 
beasts;  no  Savior  is  preached  to  them,  and  the  only  pleas- 
ures which  are  allowed  to  them — and  that  often  in  the 
scantiest  measure — are  those  of  the  animal.  Wild  tumults 
have  been  sometimes  the  evidence  of  the  cruelty  of  op- 
pression, and  of  the  savage  spirit  and  power  of  the  negroes ; 
more  frequently,  however,  they  die  without  venturing  to 
utter  a  cry  or  to  lift  a  hand  in  remonstrance  or  complaint ; 
frequently,  during  the  earlier  period  of  their  captivity,  they 
themselves  put  an  end  to  their  days  of  misery,  in  the  be- 
lief (which  is  current  among  them)  that  they  will  imme- 
diately after  death  rise  again  in  their  native  land. 

The  government  and  condition  of  Cuba,  from  the  gov- 
ernor's palace  down  to  the  bohea  of  the  slave,  is  a  govern- 
ment of  violence  and  despotism.  Justice  and  nobility  of 
mind  are,  it  is  true,  met  with  in  individuals,  but  are  not 


438  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

of  general  prevalence ;  and  in  the  laws  also  there  is  some 
evidence  of  a  magnanimous  spirit,  hut  it  is  nullified  as 
much  as  possible. 

Opposed  to  this  dark  side  of  life  in  Cuba  stands  the 
bright  side  in  the  most  striking  contrast.  There  is  the 
tropical  sky,  as  mild  as  an  angel's  glance,  its  sun  as  pure 
and  clear  as  the  purest  tones  of  music;  there  is  the  wind, 
a  spirit  as  gentle,  as  pure,  as  full  of  vitalizing  life  as  if  it 
came  forth  fresh  from  the  fountain  of  life  and  love  ;  there 
is  the  peculiar  natural  world  of  the  tropics,  full  of  marvel- 
ous plants  and  scenes ;  those  palm-groves,  where  immor- 
tals might  wander ;  those  gardens,  beautiful  as  that  of 
Eden,  where  coffee-shrubs  and  bananas  grow  in  beautiful 
plantations,  one  perpetual  blossoming,  one  perpetual  suc- 
cession of  fruit ;  those  magnificent  guadarajahs  of  king- 
palms,  which  seem  planted  as  if  for  a  triumphal  procession 
of  kings  and  queens ;  a  beauty  in  atmosphere  and  life,  in 
form  and  color,  which  involuntarily  charms  the  senses,  but 
which  can  not  be  described  by  words  or  by  color,  only  by 
music.  And  Cuba,  the  Queen  of  the  Antilles,  is  a  Calyp- 
so, beautiful  in  her  sins,  who  can  so  seduce  the  traveler 
that  he,  like  Telemachus  of  old,  would  need,  in  order  to 
resist  her,  a  wise  Mentor  who  should  pitch  him  head-fore- 
most into  the  sea.  Thus  did  I  feel  as  week  after  week  I 
delayed  my  parting  from  the  enchantress,  captivated  also 
by  the  amiable  hospitality  of  the  Creoles,  and  by  the  ac- 
quaintance of  some  of  those  noble  beings  who  are  the  or- 
nament of  the  earth,  and  who  are  able  also  to  lift  its  curse 
even  from  slavery — at  least  for  the  moment.  I  must  men- 
tion among  these  two  ladies  in  particular — one  of  them 
born  of  Danish  parents,  whom  I  would  introduce  to  the 
motherly  Queen  of  Denmark,  because  they  are  mothers  in 
the  highest  sense  of  the  word — mothers  of  the  motherless, 
of  the  stranger,  of  the  slave,  of  all  who  are  in  need  ! 

I  have  spoken  of  the  night-side  of  the  negroes'  life  in 
Cuba.  Let  me  also  speak  of  the  bright  side,  because  this 
belongs  essentially  to  the  day-side  of  Cuban  life. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  439 

Cuba  is  at  the  same  time  the  hell  and  the  paradise  of 
the  slave.  Spanish  laws,  as  regard  the  slave,  originating 
under  the  influence  of  men  as  mild  and  noble  as  Las 
Casas,  are  favorable  also  to  their  emancipation ;  and  if 
they  were  adhered  to,  there  would  not  be  found  under  the 
Spanish  dominion  any  wholly  unfortunate  slave,  because 
there  would  be  none  without  hope ;  but  wherever  the  in- 
stitution of  slavery  prevails,  the  law  is  unable  to  make 
itself  availing.  There  are,  however,  in  the  mean  time, 
some  points  in  which  the  Spanish  laws  of  manumission 
for  the  slave  are  really  availing,  and  that  because  the 
Spaniard  has  established  courts  of  justice,  and  judges  who 
watch  over  them,  and  to  whom  the  slaves  can  appeal. 

According  to  these  Spanish  laws,  a  slave  can  purchase 
his  freedom  for  the  sum  of  five- hundred  dollars,  which  is 
the  specified  legal  price  ;  and  no  slave-owner  has  a  right 
to  refuse  freedom  to  a  slave  who  can  pay  down  that  sum. 
And  it  must  be  confessed  that  many  slave-owners  are 
kind  and  just  enough  to  allow  their  slaves  to  purchase 
their  freedom  for  considerably  less.  If  a  slave-owner 
should  refuse  freedom  to  his  slave  on  those  terms,  he  can 
appeal  to  the  syndic  of  the  city  or  district,  who  then  se- 
lects one  of  three  persons  nominated  by  the  slave  and  his 
master,  and  he  decides  the  question. 

According  to  the  Spanish  laws  of  freedom,  a  mother  has 
a  right  to  purchase  the  freedom  of  the  child  before  its 
birth  for  fifteen  dollars,  and  afterward  for  double  that 
sum.  This  law,  however,  it  is  said,  is  not  acted  upon, 
excepting  with  the  consent  of  kind-hearted  masters. 

The  Spanish  law  of  freedom  allows  the  slave  many  op- 
portunities of  earning  money,  so  that  the  moment  of  free- 
dom can  always  shine  like  a  star  of  Bethlehem  upon  his 
desert  path.  This,  however,  has  reference  more  particu- 
larly to  slaves  in  the  cities.  On  the  plantations  and  with- 
in the  walls  of  the  bohea,  it  is  not  an  easy  thing  to  hear 
of  the  star  of  freedom,  still  less  to  attain  to  it.  Yet  that 
happens  sometimes  even  there. 


440  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

These  laws  of  emancipation  have  caused  the  negro  pop- 
ulation of  Cuba  to  amount  to  nearly  five  hundred  thou- 
sand souls  ;  about  one  half  of  the  whole  population  of  the 
island,  and  near  one  third  free  negroes.  And  the  free 
negro  of  Cuba  is  the  happiest  of  all  created  beings.  He 
is  protected  by  the  laws  of  the  country  from  that  violence 
and  those  hostile  attacks  which  continually  threaten  him 
in  his  own  country  from  hostile  tribes.  He  can  for  a 
small  impost  become  the  possessor  of  a  couple  of  acres  of 
land,  on  which  he  builds  his  hut  of  palm  bark  and  palm 
leaves.  Around  this  he  plants  the  trees  and  edible  roots 
of  his  native  land,  and  the  golden  maize.  The  earth 
produces,  at  small  expense  of  labor,  all  that  he  requires. 
He  needs  not  to  labor,  and  he  can  enjoy  much,  and  rest 
the  while.  The  sun  gives  him  fire,  and  frees  him  from 
the  necessity  of  clothing  for  the  greater  part  of  his  body. 
The  cocoa-palm  gives  him  milk  ;  the  plantain-tree  bread  ; 
the  king-palm  feeds  his  swine  and  his  poultry ;  the  field 
gives  him  sugar-cane,  and  the  wild  trees  of  the  forest 
drop  for  him  their  manifold  fruits.  The  African  drum 
with  its  cheerful  life,  the  African  dances  and  songs,  are 
free  to  him  here.  He  lives  here  a  real  life  of  Canaan,  and 
will  not  on  any  account  emigrate  to  Africa.  He  is  happy, 
although  his  happiness  is  not  of  an  elevated  character. 

I  confess  to  your  majesty  that  it  has  been  astonishing 
to  me,  and  distressing  at  the  same  time,  to  see  the  United 
States  stand  so  far  behind  Spain  in  justice  and  sense  of 
freedom  in  their  legislation  for  the  slave  population,  and 
it  is  difficult  for  me  to  explain  how  the  noble-mindedness 
and  national  pride  of  a  people  can  bear  and  allow  them- 
selves to  be  outdone  in  their  laws  regarding  freedom  by  a 
nation  which  they  consider  far  below  themselves  in  hu- 
manity, and  which  is  so,  too,  in  many  respects.  The  Span- 
iards of  Cuba  are  not  altogether  wrong  when  they,  on  this 
subject,  look  down  on  the  Americans,  and  call  them,  as  I 
myself  heard,  "  barbarians !" 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  441 

There  are  in  Cuba,  probably,  at  this  time,  more  happy 
black  than  white  people.  The  slave-owner  is  not  happy. 
For  him  wave  no  palm-trees;  the  delicious  winds  do  not 
caress  him;  for  him  the  mild,  bright  heavens  shine  not; 
between  him  and  all  the  glory  of  nature  stands  the  bohea 
and  the  sugar-mill,  with  their  negro  slaves,  who  dread  him, 
and  of  whom  he  stands  in  dread.  The  mild  heaven  of 
Cuba  gives  him  no  peace ;  he  sees  the  sword  of  Damocles 
hanging  over  his  head,  and  the  future  is  dark  to  him. 
Therefore  his  end  and  aim  is  merely  to  make  as  much 
money  as  he  can,  and  then  to — leave  Cuba  forever. 

When  I  think  of  this  beautiful  island,  of  its  glorious 
scenery,  its  rich  resources,  I  can  not  avoid  my  imagina- 
tion transforming  it  to  what  it  ought  to  be,  to  what  it 
seems  intended  to  be  by  the  mind  of  the  Creator;  yes, 
and  not  merely  it,  but  all  those  beautiful  islands  which 
(rod  has  scattered  with  an  affluent  hand  in  the  Southern 
sea,  like  jewels  upon  its  billowy  mantle. 

Among  these  may  be  named,  as  representatives  of  all, 
three  in  particular,  pre-eminent  in  beauty,  grandeur,  and 
wealth — Cuba,  St.  Domingo,  and  Jamaica.  But  I  will 
now  speak  of  Cuba,  that  beautiful  Queen  of  the  Antilles. 

I  behold  her,  then,  freed  from  her  fetters,  and  free  from 
slaves  ;  behold  her  crowned  by  her  palms  and  her  lofty 
mountain  peaks,  born  again  from  the  ocean  waves,  ca- 
ressed by  them  and  by  immortal  zephyrs,  a  new  Eden,  a 
home  of  perpetual  spring,  a  golden  chalice  of  health,  to 
which  all  the  sons  and  daughters  of  earth  might  make 
pilgrimages,  and  take  draughts  of  new  life,  and  receive 
new  revelations  of  the  Creator's  wealth,  and  a  foretaste 
of  the  abodes  of  the  blessed  in  the  great  Father's  house. 
There  might  they  wander  in  banana  and  orange  groves, 
enjoying  the  delicious  fruits  of  Paradise,  or  sit  in  rocking- 
chairs  on  the  hills  where  the  palm-trees  wave,  and  the 
breezes  from  the  sea,  full  of  renovating  life,  dance  around 
them — sit  thus  and  breathe,  and  behold,  and  think  how 

T  2 


442  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

beautiful  is  existence!  The  sun  descends  in  mild  glory; 
brilliant  cuculios  dart  like  stars  through  space,  and  cover 
the  tree-tops  with  glittering  jewels;  the  air  is  filled  with 
the  music  of  the  Cuban  contra-dances  and  the  Spanish 
seguidillas;  the  cheerful  measure  of  the  African  drums 
"is  heard  in  the  background,  and  the  Southern  Cross  rises 
slowly  above  the  horizon  in  the  growing  darkness  of  night. 
It  is  night,  but  no  one  need  dread  the  night  here ;  it  is  not 
cold ;  it  has  no  dew.  The  night  of  Paradise  could  not  be 
more  innocuous  than  that  of  Cuba.  The  weak  and  the 
suffering  in  body  should  come  here  and  inhale  invigor- 
ating life.  The  aged  should  come,  to  be  reminded  of  an 
eternal  youth ;  the  dejected  and  the  sorrowing,  to  gain 
new  hope.  The  philosopher  should  come  hither,  that  his 
glance  might  be  extended  over  the  infinite  realm  of  man 
and  his  Creator;  the  poet  and  the  artist,  to  study  here 
new  forms  of  beauty,  new  groupings  of  the  noble  and  the 
lovely  in  coloring  and  in  form.  The  statesman  should 
come,  to  strengthen  his  faith  in  the  ideal  of  life  and  the 
possibility  of  its  realization.  And  this  new  realm  of  beau- 
ty and  goodness  on  earth  should  be  governed  by  a  queen, 
a  ruler  of  the  heart  as  well  as  of  the  state,  to  whom  all 
hearts  and  all  people,  black,  and  white,  and  red,  and  olive- 
complexioned,  and  yellow,  should  pay  voluntary  homage 
— a  queen  good  and  beautiful  as  your  majesty! 

Charleston,  South  Carolina,  May  1st. 

I  conclude  this  letter  to  your  majesty,  which  I  com- 
menced beneath  the  southern  heavens,  in  the  United 
States  of  North  America.  I  no  longer  behold  the  infi- 
nitely mild  skies  of  the  South,  and  its  waving  palms,  but 
I  see  before  me  a  large  and  increasing  popular  life — a 
guadarajah  of  states  growing  aloft  like  palms.  In  the 
southern  portion  of  North  America  nature  is  a  great  poet, 
in  the  northern  a  great  human  being. 

It  is  still  in  this  southern  portion  that  I  am  now  writ- 
ing, and  in  one  of  the  slave  states  of  North  America. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  443 

It  is  the  month  of  May,  and  the  luxuriant,  but  feeble, 
and  almost  diseased  beauty  of  South  Carolina  is  now  in 
its  fullest  bloom.  They  are,  however,  glorious,  these  live- 
oaks,  with  their  long,  depending  trails  of  moss,  which 
convert  the  forest  into  a  natural  Gothic  temple — these 
magnolia-trees,  with  their  large,  snow-white  blossoms, 
and  odors  which  fill  the  warm,  soft  air. 

The  songs  of  the  negro  slaves  from  the  river,  as  they 
row  home  after  having  sold  their  wares  in  the  city,  reach 
me  at  this  moment  in  the  beautiful,  homelike  home  from 
which  I  have  now  the  happiness  of  writing  to  your  maj- 
esty, and  where  I  feel  myself,  as  it  were,  nearer  good  Den- 
mark, because  its  mistress,  Mrs.  William  Howland,  is  a 
Dane,  of  the  Danish  line  of  Monefeldt,  and  well  worthy 
to  be  introduced  to  the  (c^ueen  of  Denmark,  both  from  the 
love  which  she  bears  to  her  mother-country,  and  for  the 
beautiful,  maternal  feeling  toward  both  blacks  and  whites 
which  distinguish  this  noble  Danish  woman. 

I  have  already  spoken  of  slavery  as  the  misfortune  of 
the  Southern  States.  I  should  at  this  moment  be  ready 
to  call  it  their  good  fortune,  that  is  to  say,  if  at  this 
moment  they  would  take  hold  upon  the  misfortune,  the 
curse,  and  convert  it  into  a  blessing.  And  there  is  no 
doubt  but  that  they  might  do  so.  Charcoal,  it  is  said,  is 
the  mother  of  the  diamond.  The  states  of  the  South  pos- 
sess in  slavery  the  charcoal  of  a  jewel;  what  do  I  say?  of 
a  diadem  of  jewels  worthy  of  a  new  Q,ueen  of  the  South, 
more  beautiful  than  she  who  came  to  Solomon  ! 

Since  I  have  seen  in  Cuba  the  negroes  in  their  savage, 
original  state — seen  their  dances,  heard  their  songs,  and 
am  able  to  compare  them  with  what  they  are  at  the  best 
in  the  United  States,  there  remains  no  longer  a  doubt  in 
my  mind  as  to  the  beneficial  influence  of  Anglo-American 
culture  on  the  negro,  or  of  the  great  mission  which  Amer- 
ica is  called  upon  to  accomplish  with  regard  to  the  African 
race,  precisely  through  the  people  who,  having  enslaved, 


444  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

they  ought  now,  in  a  two-fold  sense,  to  emancipate.  The 
sour  crab  is  not  more  unlike  our  noble,  bright,  Astrachan 
apple,  than  is  the  song  of  the  wild  African  to  the  song  of 
the  Christian  negro  in  the  United  States,  whether  it  be 
hymns  that  he  sings  or  gay  negro  songs  that  he  has  him- 
self composed.  And  this  comparison  holds  good  through 
his  whole  being  and  world.  There  is  a  vast,  vast  dif- 
ference between  the  screeching  improvisation  of  the  ne- 
groes in  Cuba,  and  the  inspired  and  inspiring  preaching 
of  the  Savior,  and  his  affluence  of  light  and  joy,  which  1 
have  heard  extemporized  in  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Ma- 
ryland, and  Louisiana.  And  low  and  sensual  is  that  law- 
less life,  and  intoxication  of  the  senses  in  those  wild  ne- 
gro-dances, and  those  noisy  festivities  to  the  beat  of  the 
drum,  compared  with  that  life,  and  that  spiritual  intoxi- 
cation in  song  and  prayer,  and  religious  joy,  which  is  seen 
and  heard  at  the  religious  festivals  of  the  negro  people 
here.  Hard,  and  wild,  and  empty  is  the  expression  in 
the  glances  of  the  former,  compared  with  that  which  I 
have  seen  beaming  in  those  of  the  latter  when  the  light- 
life  of  Christianity  was  preached  to  them  with  clearness 
and  naivete.  And  this  is  going  on  through  wider  and 
still  wider  circles,  especially  in  the  slave  states  of  North 
America,  in  the  south,  from  Virginia  to  South  Carolina 
and  Georgia;  and  this  last-mentioned  state,  in  particular, 
seemed  to  me  to  be  animated  by  a  noble,  youthfully  vigor- 
ous spirit  of  freedom.  And  it  is  becoming  more  and  more 
general  for  the  negroes  themselves  to  stand  forth  as  relig- 
ious leaders  of  their  people,  and  churches  are  erected  for 
them.  In  the  southwestern  slave  states,  on  the  contrary, 
the  religious  life  is  but  very  little  awakened,  and  the  con- 
dition of  the  negroes  on  the  plantations  is,  most  frequent- 
ly, alike  gloomy  with  regard  to  the  life  both  of  soul  and 
body.  There  is,  however,  no  doubt  but  that  light  is 
breaking  through  ;  noble-minded  Christians  are  opening 
a  path  for  its  rays,  and  the  G-ospel  will  soon  be  preached 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  445 

to  the  slaves,  even  among  the  swampy  wildernesses  of 
the  Mississippi,  and  on  the  banks  of  the  distant  R-ed  Riv- 
er, in  Texas  and  Arkansas. 

The  Grospel  advances,  the  Church  of  Christ  unfolds  its 
arms,  and  the  gates  of  the  slave  prison-house  burst  open 
before  it  throughout  the  slave  states  of  America  !  All  that 
we  have  a  right  to  demand  from  them  as  a  Christian  com- 
munity is,  that  the  Grospel  should  advance  unimpeded,  and 
that  law  should  follow  in  the  steps  of  the  Gospel ;  that 
the  slave  legislation  of  the  United  States  should  adopt 
that  law  of  emancipation  which  the  Spanish  legal  code 
now  possesses. 

If  the  law  of  the  Southern  States,  like  that  of  the  Span- 
iard, allowed  the  slaves,  male  or  female,  to  purchase  their 
own  and  their  childrens'  freedom  by  labor;  if  it  would 
open  to  them  a  prospect  of  liberating  themselves  and  their 
children  for  a  reasonable  and  legally-fixed  sum,  and  would 
appoint  judges  to  watch  over  the  rights  of  the  black  pop- 
ulation ;  if  it  would,  in  addition  to  this,  extend  the  system 
of  popular  education  to  the  children  of  the  blacks — even 
if  they  were  in  separate  schools,  and  would  fearlessly  con- 
cede other  consecutive  means  of  moral  and  intellectual  de- 
velopment, we  might  then  confidently  predict  for  the  South- 
ern States  of  America  a  great  future.  It  would  have  ac- 
complished a  work  which  would  entitle  it  to  the  gratitude 
of  two  hemispheres,  and  demand  the  admiration  of  the 
whole  world — a  work  which  evidently  seems  to  lie  in  the 
plan  of  Grod's  schemes,  and  which  already  the  best  and 
noblest  citizens  of  the  slave  states  speak  of  as  American 
concession. 

The  Colonization  and  Christianization  of  Africa  by 
means  of  the  liberated  negro  slaves  of  America  is  this 
work,  already  commenced  in  the  infant  colony  of  Liberia, 
on  the  coast  of  Africa,  and  which  annually  increases  by 
means  of  emigrants  sent  out  by  the  southern  as  well  as 
iho  northern  free  states,  and  through  the  generosity  of  pri- 
vate citizens. 


446  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Some  of  the  slave  states,  and  foremost  among  them  the 
oldest,  Virginia  and  Maryland,  have  appropriated  a  consid- 
erable amount  of  revenue  to  the  colonization  of  the  negroes 
in  Africa,  and  two  steamers  annually  proceed  from  Balti- 
more in  Maryland,  and  from  Savannah  in  Georgia,  with 
black  emigrants  to  Liberia,  provided,  both  from  public  and 
private  sources,  with  all  that  is  requisite  for  their  estab- 
lishment in  the  old-new-country,  each  religious  community- 
providing  separately  for  the  members  of  their  own  body. 

In  the  proposition  and  extension  of  this  colony,  the 
Northern  and  the  Southern  States  have  shown  themselves 
to  be  a  noble  Union,  with  one  heart  and  one  soul.  In  this 
they  exten  1  their  hands  to  each  other  for  reconciliation  in 
the  great  quarrel  between  them  on  the  subject  of  slavery. 

I  must,  however,  confess  that  this  work  seems  to  me 
merely  as  a  part  of  that  which  the  Southern  States  ought 
to  accomplish.  These  states  would,  without  the  negro  pop- 
ulation, lose  much  of  their  most  picturesque,  most  peculiar 
life;  besides  which,  they  could  not  dispense  with  negro 
labor.  It  is  declared  that  rice,  cotton,  and  sugar  could 
not  be  cultivated  without  the  negro,  who  is  habituated  to 
the  heat  of  the  sun,  and  to  wrhom  it  is  a  delight.  The 
white  man  dies  of  the  heat  and  the  miasmas  which  are 
produced  by  the  soil;  the  black  man,  on  the  contrary, 
flourishes  there,  increases  and  multiplies,  or  merely  suffers 
slightly  from  climatic  fevers.  When  the  circumstances 
are  favorable  between  the  wfhite  and  the  black,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  there  exists  no  inimical  relationship  between 
them ;  they  love  each  other,  and  are  attracted  to  each 
other  ;  equally  unlike,  their  respective  deficiencies  perfect 
nature.  The  good-tempered,  cheerful  negro  loves  the  grave, 
sensible  white  man,  and  allowTs  himself  to  be  guided  by 
him,  and  he,  in  his  turn,  loves  the  good-hearted  black  man, 
and  allows  himself  to  be  tended  by  him. 

I  say  nothing  but  what  noble  and  thinking  men  in  the 
.slave  states  consider  to  be  possible  when  I  state  to  your 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  447 

majesty  the  conviction  that  the  noblest,  because  the  most 
difficult,  future  endeavor  of  the  slave  states  ought  to  be 
the  converting  of  one  portion  of  its  slave  population  into 
free  laborers.  I  say  one  portion,  because  it  is  clear  that 
merely  one  portion  thereof  would  be  capable  of  remain- 
ing, as  freemen,  under  American  dominion.  The  portion 
of  the  slave  population  which  longs  to  go  to  Africa  should 
go  there;  and  that  portion  which  is  attached  to  the  soil 
and  the  people  of  America,  and  which  is  capable  of  ac- 
quiring its  cultivation  and  its  active,  laborious  spirit, 
should  remain  in  its  Southern  States,  where  it  has  been 
brought  up,  to  which  it  belongs,  by  nature,  habitude,  and 
affections,  and  where  the  coloring  and  the  romantic  life 
of  these  lands,  beloved  by  the  sun,  would  be  greatly  in- 
creased by  their  life  of  labor  on  the  plantations  and  in  the 
cities,  by  their  religious  festivities,  and  their  songs  and 
dances. 

From  what  I  have  seen  of  the  good  understanding  be- 
tween the  white  man  and  the  negro,  I  believe  that  many 
of  the  best  heads  and  the  ablest  hands  among  the  negro 
people  would  prefer  remaining  in  America  to  emigrating 
from  it. 

The  traveler  may  then  visit  these  states  with  an  admi- 
ration free  from  any  depressing  reservation,  for  they  will 
then  advance  in  moral  beauty  and  political  power,  and  the 
American  Union  will  then,  without  an  exception,  become 
what  it  has  already  declared  itself  willing  to  become,  a 
great  asylum,  diffusing  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth  by  both  precept  and  example. 

It  is  evident  that  such  an  emancipation  can  not  take 
place  at  once,  nay,  perhaps  not  for  several  tens  of  years. 
It  may  be  delayed  for  a  century,  if  we  can  only  see  that 
it  is  approaching,  if  we  can  only  see  the  commencement 
of  its  dawn,  so  that  we  may  know  that  it  will  advance 
into  the  perfect  day. 

And  it  can  not  be  otherwise;  the  streaks  of  dawn  are 


448  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

already,  even  at  this  moment,  piercing  the  nocturnal  shad- 
ows which  the  late  political  contests  between  the  free 
states  and  the  slave  states  called  forth  over  the  Union. 

I  have  already  mentioned  to  your  majesty  the  labors 
of  the  Colonization  Society,  both  in  the  Northern  and  the 
Southern  States,  as  advancing  the  work  of.  enfranchise- 
ment in  Africa.  I  place  among  the  movements,  the  aim 
of  which  is  an  emancipation  of  the  black  slave  population 
of  America,  the  scheme  of  a  law,  by  that  noble,  patriotic 
statesman,  Henry  Clay,  which  should  declare  free  all  the 
children  of  the  negro  slave  born  after  a  certain  year — 
1856,  I  believe — a  scheme  which,  however,  did  not  meet 
with  the  support  of  the  less  noble  statesmen ;  and  the  en- 
deavors of  various  noble  private  individuals  for  the  educa- 
tion and  liberation  of  their  slaves. 

There  is,  however,  one  among  these  efforts  to  which  I 
desire  pre-eminently  to  direct  your  majesty's  eye,  both 
because  it  proceeds  from  the  womanly  and  maternal  ele- 
ment in  the  community,  and  because  it  is  the  grain  of 
mustard-seed,  which,  although  a  small  seed,  may  yet  grow 
into  a  large  tree  and  spread  its  shadow  far  around. 

I  know  in  the  slave  states  some  young  girls,  the  daugh- 
ters and  sisters  of  planters,  who  are  not  ashamed  of  keep- 
ing schools  themselves  for  the  children  of  the  slaves  on  the 
plantation,  and  of  teaching  them  to  pray,  to  think,  and 
work.  They  speak  highly  of  the  powers  of  mind,  and  the 
willingness  to  learn,  of  the  negro  children,  especially  when 
knowledge  is  presented  to  them  in  a  living  and  pleasing 
form  by  means  of  narratives  and  pictures. 

If  the  young  daughters  of  the  Southern  States  would 
generally  imitate  this  good  example,  they  would  do  more 
than  any  legislation  to  prepare  the  way  for  a  happy  eman- 
cipation ;  for  emancipation  might  take  place  without  any 
detriment  either  to  the  black  or  the  white  population,  if 
the  slave  had  been  educated  from  his  youth  upward  by 
love,  and  habituated  to  the  fear  of  God,  to  order,  and  la- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  44 1> 

bor ;  and  I  participate  fully  in  the  views  of  an  elderly 
man  of  the  South,  that  the  possibility  of  an  approaching 
emancipation  from  slavery  is  much  more  in  the  hands  of 
the  women  than  of  the  men  at  the  present  moment. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  young  teachers  from  the  states  of 
New  England,  the  daughters  of  the  Pilgrims,  as  "  the 
young  mothers  of  humanity."  The  young  women  of  the 
Southern  States  have  assigned  to  themselves  a  similar  of- 
fice, and  that  nearer  home — yes,  so  near  and  so  natural, 
that  it  seems  to  me  assigned  to  them  by  Grod  the  Father 
himself. 

It  is  a  universal  custom  on  the  plantations  of  the  South 
that  while  the  slaves,  men  and  women,  are  out  at  labor 
the  children  should  all  be  collected  at  one  place,  under 
the  care  of  one  or  two  old  women.  I  have  sometimes 
seen  as  many  as  sixty  or  seventy,  or  even  more  together, 
and  their  guardians  were  a  couple  of  old  negro  witches, 
who  with  a  rod  of  reeds  kept  rule  over  these  poor  little 
black  lambs,  who  with  an  unmistakable  expression  of 
fear  and  horror  shrunk  back  in  crowds  whenever  the 
threatening  witches  came  forth,  flourishing  their  rods. 
On  smaller  plantations,  where  the  number  of  children  is 
smaller,  and  the  female  guardians  gentle,  the  scene,  of 
course,  is  not  so- repulsive ;  nevertheless,  it  always  re- 
minded me  of  a  flock  of  sheep  or  swine,  which  were  fed 
merely  to  make  them  ready  for  eating.  And  yet  these 
were  human  beings,  capable  of  the  noblest  human  devel- 
opment as  regards  sentiment  and  virtue — human  beings 
with  immortal  souls! 

Here  are  the  subjects  of  Sunday-schools  ready  to  hand. 
But  where  are  the  teachers,  men — and  women  ?  The  chil- 
dren are  driven  hither  in  the  morning,  are  called  over 
morning,  noon,  and  night,  and  receive  in  the  mean  time 
threats  and  castigation,  and  then  are  driven  back  to  their 
cottages  in  the  evening ;  and  thus  it  continues  till  they 
are  old  enough  for  labor,  and  can  be  brought  under  the 
law  of  the  whip. 


450  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Would  it  be  too  much  to  demand  from  the  wives, 
daughters,  and  sisters  of  the  planters,  too  much  to  de- 
mand from  Christian  women,  that  they  should  once  or 
twice  in  the  week  go  down  to  this  neglected  crowd  of 
children,  and  talk  to  them  of  their  Father  in  heaven,  and 
teach  them  to  pray  to  "  Our  Father  in  heaven  ?" 

How  right  and  how  beautiful  it  is  to  see  a  young  white 
girl — an  angel  of  light  she  appears,  and  really  is,  in  such 
cases — standing  amid  the  black  little  ones,  teaching  them 
to  utter  with  knowledge  this  holy,  universal  prayer,  "  Our 
Father  which  art  in  heaven !" 

First  let  this  prayer  be  common  to  black  and  white, 
then  will  all  the  rest  come  in  its  time,  and  as  the  good 
and  great  Father  wills  it ! 

Good  and  beautiful  would  it  also  be  if  the  young  white 
woman  would  exercise  the  black  children  in  singing  and 
dancing,  as  they  are  practiced  in  their  native  land ;  those 
songs,  for  instance,  with  the  chorus,  which  seems  to  be 
the  heart  of  all  songs  among  the  natives  of  Africa,  and 
which  should  contain  some  sensible  meaning. 

There  is  one  song  which  might  serve  as  a  model  for  all 
such  songs.  It  was  sung  by  African  women  to  a  white 
traveler,  to  whom  they  gave  shelter  one  stormy  night  in 
their  hut,  and  its  words  are  these  : 

The  storm  roared,  and  the  rain  fell ; 

The  poor  white  man, 

Worn  and  weary  in  the  dark  night, 

Sat  alone  beneath  our  tree. 

He  has  no  mother  who  can  give  him  milk, 

No  wife  who  can  grind  his  corn  ! 

Chorus. — Have  pity  on  the  white  man, 
He  has  no  mother,  &c. 

This  song  from  the  mother-heart  of  Africa  might  show 
to  America  the  best  mode  for  the  cultivation  of  the  ne°ro 

o 

people.  A  popular  mind  which  can  produce  such  a  song 
ought  to  be  treated  with  respect.  Such  an  occupation 
would  be  more  beautiful,  and  more  worthy  of  the  young 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  451 

daughters  of  the  South,  than  wasting  their  days  in  levity, 
or  in  paying  visits,  or  in  empty  pastime,  as  most  of  them 
do  now. 

Yet  I  know  some  who  have  chosen  the  better  part ; 
many  there  ought  to  be.  Blessings  be  upon  them  !  May 
they  become  many  !  And  the  great  work  of  emancipation 
will  proceed  in  silence  and  in  beauty,  as  if  of  itself. 

It  is  very  common  in  Europe  to  lay  the  blame  of  the 
institution  of  slavery  on  the  United  States  of  America,  as 
a  sin  against  the  Holy  Grhost,  which  takes  away  all  truth 
and  all  value  from  their  free  estate.  But  people  forget 
that  it  is  only  a  part  of  these  states  which  have  slaves, 
and  that  it  was  Europe  who  first  compelled  them  to  have 
them  !  Many  of  the  young  colonies,  in  particular  Vir- 
ginia and  Georgia,  protested  in  the  commencement,  and 
that  in  the  most  strong  and  earnest  manner,  against  the 
introduction  of  slavery.  In  vain.  England  was  then  the 
mother-country,  and,  carrying  on  the  slave-trade,  required 
a  market  for  her  cargoes  of  slaves,  and  commanded  the 
young  American  colonies  to  become  this  market.  The 
selfishness  of  the  planters,  the  climate,  and  the  produc- 
tions of  Southern  North  America,  all  assisted.  Thus  was 
slavery  introduced  into  the  United  States.  Climate,  pro- 
ductions, and  many  other  causes  continue  to  ^maintain  it 
there,  until — something  further. 

England,  during  a  period  of  newly-awakened  national 
conscientiousness,  and  influenced  by  such  men  as  Wilber- 
force,  shook  herself  free  from  slavery,  and  liberated  her 
slaves  at  the  enormous  sacrifice  of  twenty  millions  sterling. 
It  is  said  that  the  whole  thing  might  have  been  done 
more  judiciously  ;  it  could  scarcely  have  been  done  with 
more  magnanimity.  We  yet  look  for  the  Wilberforce  of 
America. 

The  people  of  the  Southern  States  are  greatly  exas- 
perated by  Europe,  and  by  the  Northern  States  wishing 
to  mix  themselves  up,  as  they  say,  in  their  own  private 


452  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

affairs,  and  talking  of  and  interfering  with  the  institution 
of  slavery  and  their  established  right  to  it,  as  if  it  was 
any  thing  to  them. 

Their  excuse  is  that  the  American  Union,  and  the  great 
purpose  which  it  declares  itself  called  upon  to  accom- 
plish, is  of  such  vast  importance,  of  such  infinite  signifi- 
cance in  the  eyes  of  all  the  free  states,  for  the  whole  of 
humanity,  and  for  all  the  nations  of  the  world,  that  they 
could  not  allow  themselves  to  be  other  than  interested  in 
its  full  accomplishment  as  in  an  affair  that  concerned 
themselves.     And  does  it  not  in  reality  concern  them  ? 

The  United  States  of  America  have  declared  the  free- 
dom and  the  rights  of  humanity.  Every  human  being 
feels  himself  participant  in  this  great  charter  of  liberty. 

"  The  Mayflower"  was  the  name  of  the  first  ship  which 
conveyed  the  first  colony  of  free  men  and  women  from 
the  Old  to  the  New  "World,  and  who  founded  a  new  com- 
munity on  the  soil  of  North  America.  "  The  Mayflower" 
was  the  symbol  of  the  Old  World's  youngest  anticipations. 
The  community  of  the  United  States  became  the  May- 
flower of  the  human  race.  It  will  not  tolerate  that  any 
worm  should  feed  in  its  dewy  chalice,  that  any  Nidhbgg 
should  gnaw  at  its  root.     And  it  is  right. 

But  I  have  too  long  detained  the  attention  of  your  maj- 
esty by  this  side  of  the  history  of  the  United  States,  and 
I  fear  that  in  so  doing  my  letter  has  extended  itself  to  an 
undue  length.  I  can  not,  however,  close  this  account  to 
your  majesty  of  the  life  in  the  New  World  without  saying 
a  few  words  respecting  the  homes  there. 

During  the  whole  period  of  my  residence  in  this  hem- 
isphere, I  have  lived  and  been  entertained  in  American 
homes,  and  it  is  in  these  homes  and  by  familiar  inter- 
course with  their  members  that  I  have  contemplated  and 
reflected  upon  the  social  life  of  the  New  World :  it  is  in 
them  that  I  have  loved  and  thought,  reposed  and  enjoyed 
myself;  it  is  the  home  of  America  which  I  have  to  thank 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  453 

pre-eminently  for  what  I  have  here  learned  and  experi- 
enced ;  it  is  the  home  of  America  which  has  conferred 
more  upon  me  than  the  whole  treasure  of  California — a 
new  life  both  for  heart  and  soul. 

The  home  on  the  soil  of  the  New  World  is  that  which 
the  home  was  for  our  old  North,  and  still  is  to  this  day 
— a  sacred  room.  The  American  home,  however,  will  be 
also  a  beautiful  room.  It  loves  to  surround  itself  with 
green  plots,  with  lovely  trees  and  flowTers.  It  is  the  same 
in  the  cities.  More  beautifully  adorned  homes  are  not  to 
be  met  with  in  the  world.  Within  the  home,  the  fear  of 
God,  morality,  and  domestic  love  are  met  with.  It  is  the 
American  home  which  strengthens  the  American  states, 
and  makes  them  steadfast  in  the  fear  of  (rod  and  a  moral 
life.  The  best  and  the  noblest  men  of  America  have  ev- 
ery one  of  them,  with  Washington  at  their  head,  been 
brought  up  by  pious  mothers,  in  noble  and  moral  nomas. 

Probably  that  which  most  distinguishes  the  home  of 
the  New  World  from  that  of  the  Old  is  the  dominant 
sway  which  is  assigned  in  it  to  woman.  The  rule  of  the 
American  man  is  to  allow  the  wife  to  establish  the  laws 
of  home.  He  bows  himself  willingly  to  her  sceptre,  part- 
ly from  affection,  partly  from  the  conviction  that  it  is  best 
and  most  just  that  it  should  be  so,  and  from  chivalric  po- 
liteness to  the  sex ;  for  the  American  believes  that  a  some- 
thing divine,  a  something  of  a  higher  and  more  refined 
nature,  abides  in  woman.  He  loves  to  listen  to  it  and  to 
yield  to  it  in  all  the  questions  of  the  inner  life.  He  loves 
to  place  his  partner  in  life  higher  than  himself. 

She  is  left  to  the  free  development  of  her  world  and  her 
own  being  within  the  home,  seldom  contradicted,  never 
compelled,  is  generally  true  to  her  nobler  nature,  and  stands 
forth  gentle,  domestic,  affectionate,  and  God-fearing.  One 
of  the  most  striking  features  in  American  women  is  their 
religious  strength.  Many  American  women,  during  the 
earliest  periods  of  their  wars  with  the  Indians,  like  the 


454  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

mother  of  the  Maccabees,  strengthened  their  children  un- 
der their  martyrdom,  admonishing  them  to  hold  fast  by 
their  Grod ;  many  do  the  same  at  the  present  day  during 
severe  trials  of  sickness  or  misfortune.  And  from  the 
Eastern  Sea  to  the  Mississippi,  from  the  Northern  Minne- 
sota to  the  tropics,  throughout  the  Western  country,  have 
I  seen  nothing  more  worthy  of  love,  nothing  more  near  to 
perfection,  than  the  motherly  woman. 

Neither  have  I  ever  seen  any  where  on  the  earth  a  be- 
ing of  more  dew-liko  freshness,  more  beautiful,  primevally 
vital  life,  than  the  young  girl  of  America. 

But  beyond  this  group  of  beautiful  womanhood  I  am 
obliged  to  confess  that  there  are  in  the  West  many  wom- 
en who  in  no  respects  correspond  to  the  ideal  which  the 
cultivation  of  the  New  World  requires  them  to  attain  to 
—  women  whose  thoughtlessness,  insipidity,  vanity,  and 
pretension  make  the  spectator  pause  and  ask  himself  how 
far  that  great  freedom,  which  is  early  permitted  to  young 
women,  is  in  accordance  with  the  higher  development  of 
her  being. 

The  better  class  see  this  misdirection  in  a  portion  of 
their  sex,  and  deplore  it  deeply.  I  would  not,  on  their  ac- 
count, have  this  freedom  circumscribed  in  the  least  de- 
gree— I  would  give  merely  a  higher  object  and  conscious- 
ness. That  which  woman  requires  is  not  a  less,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  a  higher  esteem  for  home  and  her  vocation — 
a  higher  comprehension  of  the  human  work  and  worth  to 
which  she  is  called.  It  is  only  a  higher  consciousness 
which  can  save  her  from  her  egotistical  littleness. 

As  a  general  rule,  it  may  be  said  that  the  citizeness  is 
not  as  yet  fully  awakened  within  the  community  of  the 
New  World  ;  as  in  the  Old  World,  she  still  slumbers,  lull- 
ed by  the  old  cradle-song,  and  by  the  little  voice  which 
prevents  her  listening  to  the  great  voice,  and  by  the  lik- 
ing which  men  have  for  the  merely  agreeable  and  out- 
wardly attractive  in  the  sex. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  455 

It  is  from  this  defective  consciousness  of  a  higher  voca- 
tion that  the  influence  of  woman  within  the  home,  and 
on  the  education  of  the  child,  is  still,  in  general,  far  from 
what  it  might  be,  and  what  it  needs  to  be  in  this  country, 
where  the  power  of  conscience  and  of  the  inner  law  ought 
to  be  strengthened  ten- fold,  in  the  same  degree  as  the 
outward  are  less  restrictive  upon  the  wishes  and  the 
whims  of  the  individual.  The  American  woman  is  mar- 
ried young,  and  when  she  is  scarcely  past  the  years  of 
childhood;  she  soon  has  children  of  her  own,  and  shows 
her  maternal  love  principally  by  spoiling  them,  by  indulg- 
ing all  their  whims  and  wishes,  as  she  herself  was  indulg- 
ed and  spoiled  in  her  paternal  home.  She  leaves  disci- 
pline and  severity  to  the  school,  to  which  the  child  is  sent 
early.  And  the  school  does  what  it  can — gives  style  and 
grace  to  the  outward  being,  but  leaves  the  inward  very 
much,  probably,  as  it  found  it. 

Hence,  especially  in  the  slave  states,  that  unrestrained 
temper  and  mode  of  action — that  want  of  a  stricter  moral 
law,  of  a  keener  conscientious  perception,  with  which,  and 
not  without  reason,  the  young  men  of  America  are  re- 
proached, and  those  disorderly  occurrences  in  private  life 
and  in  the  community  at  large  which  are  the  consequent 
results.* 

Strong,  stern  women,  who  would  bring  up  republicans 
by  severity  and  love  —  such  women  as  Lycurgus  would 
form  to  make  his  republic  strong  and  great — are  not  to 
.be  met  with  here. 

•Neither  is  that  Spartan  type  of  physical  strength  the 
only  necessary.  The  New  World  requires  another.  And 
if  it  should  become  more  universal,  if  woman  in  the  United 
States  of  America  became  that  which  she  ought  to  be,  and 
-exercised  that  influence  which  it  lies  in  her  power  to  ex- 

*  I  must,  however,  remark,  that  although  such  occurrences  make  a 
great  noise  here,  they  did  not  appear  to  me  worse  than  such  as  take 
place  more  silently— and  more  numerously — in  European  countries. 


456  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

ercise  on  the  soul  of  the  child  and  the  man,  on  social  life, 
on  the  great  interests  of  the  community,  then  would  the 
United  States  become  also  the  ideal  states  of  the  earth ! 

Many  distinguished  and  amiable  women  in  North  Amer- 
ica— Quaker  women  among  these — have  presented  noble 
examples  to  their  sex  ;  and  many  movements  in  the  States 
have  latterly  shown  the  dawn  of  public  spirit  among  wom- 
en. May  it  increase  and  strengthen ;  and  I  will  venture 
to  say  that  the  American  woman  will  then  stand  forward 
as  the  earth's  most  beautiful  and  most  perfect  woman. 

If  I  were  able  to  present  to  your  majesty  those  Amer- 
ican women  who  appear  to  me  to  be  the  purest  represent- 
ative type  of  the  Eve  of  the  New  World,  your  majesty's 
glance  would  rest  upon  them  with  an  expression  of  satis- 
faction, both  as  regards  the  sense  of  beauty  and  of  moral 
feeling.  I  see  your  majesty's  own  gentle  being  thrilled 
by  the  recognition  of  a  kindred  being,  and  seem  to  hear 
from  your  majesty's  lips  this  judgment. 

"  They  resemble  the  most  beloved  women  of  our  hemi- 
sphere ;  their  grace  of  person  is  not  less  than  their  stead- 
fastness in  principle.  But  they  have  something  more  than 
the  women  of  Europe.  Their  glance  seems  to  me  to  em- 
brace a  larger  world  ;  their  intelligence  a  larger  activity ; 
and  their  heart  seems  to  me  large  enough  to  embrace  and 
elevate  the  human  community  in  all  its  spheres." 

Probably  it  is  only  just  to  say  that  the  human  being'  of 
the  New  World  is  not  better  than  he  of  the  Old ;  but  he 
stands  on  more  advantageous  ground,  under  more  favor- 
able circumstances  as  regards  free  and  true  development. 
Human  nature,  both  in  the  individual  and  in  the  com- 
munity at  large,  may  become  more  perfected,  because  here 
every  private  advantage  may  become  that  of  all ;  the  circle 
of  society  is  more  complete. 

But  it  is  time  for  me  to  conclude,  and  I  must  already, 
I  fear,  have  wearied  your  majesty  by  the  length  oi  my 
letter.  The  interest  of  the  subjects,  and  the  interest  which 
your  majesty  expressed  in  them,  must  be  my  excuse. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  457 

I  shall  now  very  shortly  leave  the  South.  Its  witchery 
is  great,  but  my  bias  is  now  toward  the  North.  The  tree 
of  freedom  grows  more  vigorous  amid  its  granite  hills. 
And  as  it  grows  in  the  Northern  States  of  America,  grows 
it  also  in  our  Scandinavian  North.  But  what  this  North 
possesses,  and  which  America  possesses  not,  is  an  antiquity 
full  of  song  and  saga,  of  glorious  prophecy  and  symbolism, 
of  gods  and  heroes  who  gave  to  Scandinavia  so  large,  so 
peculiar,  so  romantic  a  life.  It  is  this  antiquity,  its  sig- 
nificance for  the  present  time,  its  life  in  our  scenery,  and 
our  every-day  life,  which  attracts  me  once  more  to  my 
native  land,  as  powerfully  as  my  mother's  voice. 

A  visit  to  my  beloved  Copenhagen  stands  before  me  like 
a  point  of  light  on  my  return  to  Sweden,  and  I  hope  that 
this  coming  autumn  will  enable  me  to  greet  the  cheerful 
capital  of  Denmark.  I  shall  esteem  myself  fortunate  if  I 
see  there  once  more  the  good  and  beautiful  Queen  of  Den- 
mark, and  receive  her  bright  image  into  the  sanctuary  of 
my  heart,  there  to  be  preserved  as  one  of  its  most  precious 
treasures. 

Your  majesty's  kindness  makes  me  bold  enough  to  hope 
it ;  and  it  is  also  in  reliance  upon  that  that  I  venture  to 
solicit  a  place  in  your  majesty's  memory  among  the  many 
who  love  your  majesty,  as  does 

Your  majesty's  humble  and  devoted  servant, 

Fredrika  Bremer. 


LETTER   XXXVIII. 

TO  AGATHA. 

Savannah,  Georgia,  May  13. 

I  have  left  the  island  of  the  sun  and  of  the  palms,  and 
am  once  more  on  the  continent  of  America. 

On  the  3d  I  went  on  board  the  pretty  but  expensive 
steam-boat  the  "  Isabel,"  where  nothing  was  good  except- 

Vol.  II.— U 


458  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

ing  the  captain  and  mate.  My  host  at  Havana,  Mr.  Wool- 
cott  had  the  politeness  to  see  me  on  board  himself,  and  to 
take  charge  of  my  luggage.  He  is  a  good  and  polite  host, 
and  understands  perfectly  every  thing  which  a  traveler 
requires,  and  his  hotel  in  Havana  is  excellent,  nor  is  it 
very  dear,  except  during  the  so-called  winter  months, 
when  the  concourse  of  strangers  to  the  city  is  extraordi- 
narily great.  Besides  which,  Havana  is  one  of  the  dear- 
est places  in  the  world. 

The  last  view  I  had  of  the  Queen  of  the  Antilles  show- 
ed me  her  enveloped  in  dark  clouds,  the  precursors  of 
tempest.  The  sea  rolled  high,  and  the  vessel  rocked  tre- 
mendously ;  and  the  Moro  light  was  seen  like  a  flambeau 
on  its  lofty  rock,  as  the  vessel  rose  on  each  ascending  bil- 
low, to  be  again  lost  when  it  sunk  into  the  abyss  of  the 
waves.  That  beautiful  bright  light,  which  so  often  glad- 
dened me  during  the  evenings  and  nights  of  Cuba,  seem- 
ed to  me  now,  in  the  rising  tempest  and  darkening  night, 
like  some  signal  of  misfortune  flashing  forth  from  the 
stormy  horizon.  On  the  day  previous  there  had  been  an 
eclipse  of  the  sun,  and  around  the  sun  a  vast  black  ring. 
This  seemed  to  me  a  prophetic  token;  for  the  internal 
condition  of  Cuba,  the  despotism  of  the  government,  the 
prevailing  venality  and  the  thirst  of  gain,  the  bitter  dis- 
satisfaction of  the  Creoles,  the  state  of  the  slaves,  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  slave-trade,  which  annually  peoples  the  isl- 
and with  thousands  of  wild  Africans,  the  longing  glances 
which  America  casts  upon  this  new  Helen,  all  forebode  a 
stormy  future,  and,  it  may  be,  a  terrible,  bloody  crisis! 
May  I  be  an  untrue  diviner ! 

Ah!  this  beautiful  island,  with  its  delicious  breezes,  its 
glorious  trees,  its  lovely  evenings,  its  eternal  summer — I 
shall  always  love  it  as  one  of  Grod's  most  beautiful  crea- 
tions, and  be  thankful  that  I  beheld  it,  and  have  learned 
from  it  the  better  to  understand  a  new  heaven  and  a  new 
earth ! 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  459 

My  secret  wish  and  hope  is,  that  Cuba  may  one  day, 
by  peaceful  means,  belong  to  the  United  States.  When 
the  United  States  shall  comprehend  within  themselves  the 
regions  of  the  tropics,  and  shall  thence  extend  their  realm 
of  states,  then  first  will  it  become  the  universal  realm 
which  it  ought  to  be.  And  Cuba  in  the  hands  of  the 
Anglo-Americans  would  soon  discontinue  the  slave-trade ; 
the  Grospel  would  be  preached  to  the  slaves;  the  fortress 
walls  of  the  bohea  would  be  converted  into  pretty  Ameri- 
can slave- villages ;  and  perhaps  the  noble-minded  laws  of 
Cuba  respecting  the  slave  might  be  incorporated  into  the 
legislative  code  of  the  Union  when  Cuba  itself  became  a 
part  of  the  Union. 

I  arrived  in  Charleston  on  the  morning  of  the  11th  of 
May,  and  amid  the  brightest  sunshine,  which  neverthe- 
less seemed  like  moonlight,  or  like  veiled  sunshine,  so 
gloomy  and  dim  appeared  to  me  the  light  on  the  walls 
and  roofs  of  Charleston,  or  amid  its  shadowy  trees,  after 
the  pomp  and  glory  of  sunshine  to  which  I  had  become 
accustomed  in  Cuba.  I  could  not  help  continually  look- 
ing up  to  the  sky,  to  see  whether  the  sun  were  not  ob- 
scured by  cloud. 

But  what  heartfelt  pleasure  it  was  to  me  to  see  Mrs. 
W.  H.  and  her  family  once  more,  and  to  talk  with  them 
about  Cuba,  and  to  spend  with  them,  in  joy  and  tranquil- 
lity, one  whole,  beautiful  day ! 

My  thoughts,  however,  were  not  just  now  bent  on  tran- 
quillity and  quietness.  I  was  about  to  undertake  new 
journeys  and  new  adventures.  I  desired  to  see  Florida, 
and  easily  persuaded  my  good  Mrs.  W.  H.  to  accompany 
me,  being  sure  that  the  journey  would  give  her  pleasure, 
while  it  would  be  a  great  joy  to  me  to  make  it  in  her 
company. 

The  determination  must  be  quickly  made.  The  follow- 
ing day  a  steamer  left  for  Savannah,  and  there  I  was  to 
meet  with  the  Mac  I.  family,  who,  according  to  an  agree- 


460  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

merit  of  a  year's  standing,  were  to  make  by  it  a  journey 
to  Florida,  up  the  beautiful  River  St.  John. 

No  sooner  said  than  done.  The  next  morning  saw  Mrs. 
W.  H.  and  myself  on  board  the  steamer  bound  for  Savan- 
nah. It  was  the  most  beautiful  May  morning,  and  just  as 
we  reached  the  shore,  and  were  about  to  go  on  board, 
there  was  my  friend  from  Belmont  with  a  bouquet  of 
flowers,  and  some  other  friends  also.  How  kind  and  how 
delightful! 

And  now,  after  a  day's  pleasure-sail  on  the  river,  I  am 
once  more  in  this  verdant  city,  once  more  among  old 
friends,  good,  kind,  and  hospitable  as  formerly — Mr.  and 
Mrs.  T.,  Mrs.  B.,  and  many  others. 

I  found  the  Mac  I.'s  in  deep  sorrow  on  account  of  the 
death  of  a  beloved  daughter  and  sister  in  the  past  autumn. 
The  father,  however,  the  estimable  Colonel  Mac  L,  and  his 
youngest  daughter,  an  intellectual  and  highly-cultivated 
young  girl,  were  ready  to  accompany  us  to  Florida,  where 
we  were  to  pay  a  visit  to  the  eldest  son  of  the  family,  who 
was  married  and  lived  there.  On  my  return  I  shall  visit 
the  plantations  of  a  Mr.  C,  where,  I  am  told,  I  shall  meet 
with  the  ideal  of  plantation-life  in  the  slave  states. 

On  the  morning  of  the  day  after  to-morrow  we  set  off 
by  a  pretty  little  spick-and-span  new  steamer,  "  the  Mag- 
nolia," and  intend  to  go  up  the  River  St.  John  as  far  as 
steamers  can  go,  that  is  to  say,  as  far  as  Lake  Monroe. 

Miss  Dix,  who  came  by  steamer  to  Savannah,  has  joined 
our  little  party,  as  she  also  wishes  to  visit  Florida.  The 
weather  is  glorious,  the  moon  is  at  the  full,  and  I  am  full 
of  the  desire  for  traveling,  and  the  desire  to  see  Florida, 
the  flower  of  the  Southern  States,  the  land  of  which  the 
delicious  balmy  odors  made  the  Spaniards  believe  that  the 
fountain  of  eternal  youth  was  hidden  there.  And  now — 
thither,  thither,  to  taste  its  nectar ! 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  461 

The  Magnolia,  May  17. 

Very  seldom  are  letters  written  from  a  steamer  which 
lies  on  a  green  meadow ;  it  is  from  a  steamer  in  that  very 
predicament  that  I  am  now  writing  to  you.  And  how 
long  it  and  its  passengers  are  so  to  lie,  depends  upon  the 
moon  and  human  kindness ;  but  we  have  reason  to  sus- 
pect the  good- will  both  of  one  and  the  other  at  this  mo- 
ment. 

The  first  day  of  our  voyage  was  a  particularly  merry 
one,  and  the  ladies  of  our  little  party  were  very  amusing  to 
each  other.  Miss  Mac  I.,  now  removed  from  an  environ- 
ment of  sorrow,  bloomed  forth  into  such  fresh  life,  and 
vivacity,  and  wit,  as  her  earnest,  classical  countenance  had 
not  led  me  to  expect  from  her.  Mrs.  W.  H.  has  always  a 
fund  of  calm,  good-natured  humor  at  hand,  and  the  two 
together  excited  Miss  Dix  to  a  friendly  quarrel.  "We  had 
also  a  certain  dominant  and  philanthropic  lady  on  board, 
who  would  domineer  over  us  all,  and  who  made  "  mount- 
ains of  mole-heaps."  But  we  took  it  all  in  good  part,  and 
were  very  merry.  Our  pretty  little  Magnolia  wedged  its 
way  gayly,  in  all  sorts  of  curves  and  angles,  through  the 
swampy  flats,  where,  among  many  currents,  it  had  to  find 
out  its  own.  I  could  not  help  admiring  its  courage  and 
its  many  expedients,  only  it  seemed  to  me  to  have  quite 
too  great  a.  fancy  for  the  land,  for  we  often  struck  against 
the  banks  while  we  swung  between  them,  but  there  was 
often  no  space  to  take  any  free  sweep. 

"  Beautiful  evening,  Missis!"  said  the  black  helmsman, 
looking  out  of  his  little  house  on  deck  with  a  good-homor- 
ed  countenance,  and  addressing  one  of  the  ladies  of  our 
party. 

"Yes,  but — shall  we  soon  reach  our  quarters  for  the 
night?" 

"Oh  yes  —  oh  yes,  immediately  !  We  shall  soon  get 
along.     Don't  be  uneasy,  Missis,  Ma'am !" 

Shortly  after,  when  we  were  all  sitting  at  tea,  the  vessel 


462  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

was  suddenly  heaved  up,  as  by  a  strong  wave,  and  then — 
we  stood  still,  although  the  engines  kept  working  on  for  a 
moment.  The  captain,  who  was  sitting  at  the  table,  and 
a  couple  of  other  gentlemen,  sprang  up  and  rushed  out. 

It  was  apparent  that  the  ignorant  extra-ordinary  helms- 
man (the  ordinary  one  lay  sick  at  Savannah)  had  mistaken 
the  channel  of  the  stream,  and  had  steered  us  directly 
upon  a  projecting  point  of  land.  It  was  overflowed  with 
water,  for  the  moon  was  that  evening  at  her  full,  and  it 
was  high  tide. 

At  ebb  tide,  therefore,  the  next  morning,  we  found  our- 
selves lying  entirely  on  dry  land,  with  green  grass  grow- 
ing around  us,  and  just  by  a  grove  of  live-oaks  and  flow- 
ering magnolia-trees,  which  latter  may  have  exercised 
some  mysterious  attractive  power  upon  our  poor  little 
Magnolia,  which  now  lies  with  its  head  turned  toward 
the  grove,  just  as  if  it  would  plow  its  way  right  into  it. 

We  were  quite  fast.  And  we  are  still  sticking  quite 
fast  now  on  the  17th,  amid  the  green  grass  and  the  clay, 
saluted  in  the  evenings  by  the  whistling  notes  of  the 
whippowil  from  the  magnolia-grove,  and  in  the  morn- 
ing by  brilliant  butterflies.  A  whole  regiment  of  negro 
slaves  are  busied  in  digging  around  the  keel  of  the  ves- 
sel, to  loosen  it  out  of  the  sand  and  the  clay,  but  thereby 
only  to  reveal  the  depth  to  which  it  is  imbedded. 

On  the  first  day  we  said,  "When  the  tide  comes  up  in 
the  evening,  then — " 

But  when  the  tide  came  up  it  did  not  rise  as  high  as 
on  the  preceding  evening,  and  the  moon,  now  past  the 
full,  looked  down  upon  us  coldly,  and  let  us  lie  where  we 
lay. 

"In  the  morning,  when  the  steam-boat,  'the  Graston,' 
passes  by,"  we  now  said,  "  it  will  give  us  a  pull,  and  help 
us  off!"  and  Miss  Mac  I.  proposed  that  all  the  ladies  should, 
on  the  approach  of  the  Graston,  come  on  deck,  and  show 
themselves  with  handkerchiefs  to  their  eyes,  and  so  move, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  463 

by  that  means,  the  probably  hard  heart  of  the  captain  of 
the  Gaston. 

The  morrow  came,  and  the  smoke  of  the  Gaston  was 
seen,  and  the  smoke  of  hope  ascended  from  our  hearts. 

The  Gaston  approached,  paused,  looked  at  us.  The 
tide  was  in.  We  were  full  of  anticipation  of  the  Gas- 
ton's "pull."  But  the  hard-hearted  Gaston  only  looked 
at  us  and  went  on  his  way,  and  left  us  to  our  fate  on  dry 
land.  (N.B. — The  moving  scene  of  the  pocket-handker- 
chiefs was  forgotten!) 

Great  indignation  in  the  Magnolia.  Our  dominant  lady 
vowed  that  she  would  draw  up  a  declaration  of  indigna- 
tion against  the  Gaston  and  put  it  in  the  newspapers. 
She  proposed  to  the  ladies  on  board  a  declaration  of  es- 
teem for  the  captain  of  the  Magnolia,  and  his  gentleman- 
ly conduct,  which  we  applauded  and  signed. 

Our  hopes  are  now  fixed  on  the  steam-boat  St.  Matthew, 
which  is  expected  to-morrow  evening,  and  that  it  may 
show  itself  to  be  a  good  apostle,  and  take  us  on  board, 
because  it  is  clear  that  the  Magnolia  can  not  be  released 
at  present,  as  the  moon  decreases  every  day,  and  the  tide 
is  lower  also,  and  the  Magnolia  sinks  deeper  every  day, 
from  its  weight,  in  the  sand. 

We  in  the  mean  time  console  ourselves  with  good-hu- 
mour, and  a  ramble  every  now  and  then  on  the  shore, 
which  we  can  do  dry-shod  from  the  vessel. 

The  iadies  are  especially  good-tempered  and  merry. 
Good  Mrs.  W.  H.,  who  can  not  live  without  her  house- 
wifely activity,  began  to  wash  her  muslins,  and  recom- 
mended herself  as  a  laundress  of  fine  linen  to  all  whom 
it  might  concern,  but  got  scolded  for  laziness  and  want 
of  skill.  Miss  Dix,  on  the  other  hand,  being  suspected 
of  theft,  was  threatened  with  the  house  of  correction,  and 
thus  we  laughed  heartily  and  amused  ourselves,  espe- 
cially Miss  Mac  I.,  in  whose  breast  the  fountain  of  youth 
seemed  to  well  forth  afresh,  and  who  could  not  herself 


464  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

understand  how  she  could  be  so  lively ;  and  in  the  even- 
ing we  celebrated  the  birth-day  of  our  captain's  pretty 
little  daughter.  I  wove  a  garland  of  wild  flowers  for  her ; 
the  other  ladies  gave  her  little  presents,  and  the  little  girl 
was  very  happy,  and  sprang  forward  to  exhibit  herself  to 
her  father. 

There  was  in  company  a  lady,  not  yet  forty,  handsome, 
tight  laced,  and  well  dressed,  with  light  curls,  and  thoughts 
evidently  directed  to  the  world  and  its  pleasures.  This 
lady  is,  nevertheless,  a  widow  after  her  third  marriage, 
and  the  mother  of  twelve  children,  nine  of  whom  are 
dead,  and  two  married,  and  the  grandmother  of  three 
grandchildren.  \ 

"  And  you  got  very  well  through  all  this  ?"  said  I,  with 
some  surprise. 

"  Yes,  indeed,"  replied  she,  evidently  well  satisfied  with 
herself  and  her  own  strength  of  mind. 

"  And  you  would  not,  perhaps,  be  unwilling  to  marry  a 
fourth  time  ?"  said  Mrs.  "W".  H.,  a  little  curious  as  to  the 
reply. 

"  Oh  no !"  replied  she,  calmly,  "  not  if  I  could  better 
myself  by  so  doing." 

Miss  Mac  I.  was  so  indignant  at  this  that  she  could 
hardly  restrain  herself  from  breaking  out  upon  her. 

Among  the  gentlemen  was  a  young  Californian  adven- 
turer, just  returned  from  the  land  of  gold,  and  on  his  way 
back  to  his  wife  and  his  home,  with  divers  lumps  of  gold, 
melted  and  unmelted,  Californian  ducats,  and  a  white  China 
silk  shawl  for  his  wife.  He  was  a  handsome  young  man, 
more  of  a  dandy,  and  more  childish  than  is  usual  for  an 
American,  but  all  suitable  for  a  Californian  adventurer. 
I  wanted  to  know  something  about  the  country,  and  the 
people,  and  the  way  of  life  in  California ;  about  the  Chinese 
and  their  social  state,  their  mode  of  worship,  &c.  But 
the  young  man  merely  knew  that  he  had  with  him  many 
nuggets  of  gold,  and  a  Chinese  silk  shawl  for  his  wife. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  465 

This  afternoon  we  went  a  little  way  inland,  and  saw  a 
fine  cotton  plantation,  beautifully  situated  upon  a  lofty 
terrace  by  the  river.  It  belonged,  as  we  were  told,  to  a 
Mr.  Valburg.  I  was  particularly  pleased  with  some  of 
the  slave  dwellings  which  I  visited,  and  which  bore  evi- 
dence of  a  certain  degree  of  prosperity,  as  did  also  the  ap- 
pearance of  some  of  the  slaves  who  had  returned  from 
labor. 

There  stood  beside  a  well  a  very  old  negro  woman, 
who  was  come  hither  to  fetch  water.  I  asked  her  how 
old  she  was. 

"A  little  better  than  a  hundred,  ma'am!"  was  her 
reply. 

The  negroes  have  a  great  desire  to  be  very  old,  and 
really  do  live  to  extreme  old  age  when  their  life  is  easy. 

I  should  have  retained  nothing  but  the  most  agreeable 
impression  of  this  plantation  had  I  not,  in  returning  to 
the  shore,  met  at  a  gate  the  overseer  of  the  plantation 
(the  owner  and  his  family  were  abroad),  and  in  him  had 
seen  a  strong-limbed  young  man,  with  that  fierce,  lawless, 
wandering  gaze  which  I  have  remarked  in  many  overseers 
on  the  plantations,  and  which  takes  away  all  faith  in  the 
justice  and  integrity  of  their  treatment  of  the  slave.  The 
slaves  who  are  digging  around  our  vessel  are  strong-built, 
and  work  hard,  but  as  silently  as  if  they  were  digging  a 
grave.  This  is  not  natural  for  negroes,  and  is  not  a  good 
sign. 

There  is  the  most  beautiful  moonlight  in  the  evenings, 
and  the  melodious  but  monotonous  cry  of  the  whippo- 
wil  resounds  from  the  magnolia  grove.  In  the  daytime 
the  heat  is  great,  and — may  St.  Matthew  only  have  mer- 
cy upon  us ! 

Lake  Monroe,  Florida,  May  20. 

I  now  write  to  you  from  the  heart  of  blooming  Florida, 
reposing  upon  one   of  its  lovely  mirror-like  lakes,  with 
horrible  alligators  swimming  around  our  little  floating 
U  2 


466  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

dwelling  (a  very  rickety  steam-boat  named  Sarah  Spald- 
ing). A  garland  of  dark  green  wood,  resembling  myrtle, 
surrounds  the  great  lake,  for  at  this  distance  we  can  not 
distinguish  between  groves  of  orange  and  palmetto  and 
forests  of  cypress.  The  whole  shore  is  low,  and  the  lake 
as  clear  as  a  mirror,  and  every  thing  profoundly  still 
around  it.  No  cities  and  towns,  no  steam-boats,  no  boats 
of  any  kind,  no  human  beings,  excepting  ourselves,  the 
Florida  travelers.  Here  is  infant  land,  nay,  almost  wild 
land  still.  But  how  glad  I  am  to  be  now  in  the  poetical 
wilderness  of  Florida,  to  have  seen  something  of  its  mar- 
velous, natural  poetry! 

St.  Matthew  proved  a  good  apostle  to  us,  and  on  the 
afternoon  of  the  18th  received  us  all  into  his  bosom,  poor, 
stranded  sinners  as  we  were,  but  who  nevertheless  did  not 
experience  any  want,  and  were  not  much  to  be  pitied,  ex- 
cepting that  it  was  tiresome  to  lie  quiet  in  a  steamer  on  a 
neck  of  land,  in  the  midst  of  the  hot  sunshine.  Our  cap- 
tain, however,  was  mostly  to  be  pitied  ;  so  were  some  of 
the  men,  who  were  already  taken  ill.  Our  deliverer,  St. 
Matthew,  did  not  come  very  near  to  us,  but  had  us  fetched 
off  in  a  boat.  Four  negroes  rowed  us.  I  was  thinking 
that  they  were  rowing  well,  and  with  great  precision,  when 
our  dominant  lady,  who  is  known  to  be  very  philanthropic 
to  white  sinners,  and  was  keeping  a  sharp  look-out  on  the 
blacks,  said,  the  very  next  moment,  in  a  stern  voice, 

"Why  do  you  not  row  with  more  vigor?"  and  then 
turning  to  me,  she  added, 

"  One  can  see  by  their  chests  and  their  breathing  wheth- 
er they  exert  themselves  as  much  as  they  are  able." 

The  philanthropic  lady  thus  sat  and  watched  the  respi- 
ration of  the  negroes,  with  her  eyes  riveted  upon  their  bare 
chests,  to  ascertain  whether  they  exerted  themselves  to  the 
utmost  to  serve  her  and  us.  I  am  obliged  to  confess  that 
this  lady  was  from  one  of  the  states  of  New  England. 
Such  is  the  philanthropy  of  many  American  women. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  467 

Our  dominant  lady,  in  the  mean  time,  did  not  get  any- 
one to  concur  in  her  remarks  and  admonitions.  The  ne- 
groes rowed  calmly,  but  regularly  and  well,  the  heavily- 
loaded  boat,  and  we  all  came  happily  on  board  the  St. 
Matthew.  And  we  soon  found  ourselves,  to  our  great  satis- 
faction, sweeping  along  the  Altamaha  River,  whose  waters 
here  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  sea  are  salt,  and  seemed 
in  the  evening  twilight  like  a  river  of  brightly-flowing 
silver,  full  of  sparkling  diamonds. 

St.  Matthew  had  already  many  passengers  on  board,  and 
among  them  were  three  pair  of  turtle-doves  of  the  human 
race.  The  first  pair,  physically  handsome,  but  second-class 
people  in  cultivation  and  manners,  were  so  in  love  with 
one  another,  and  showed  it  to  such  a  degree,  that  it  was 
quite  disgusting;  the  young  man,  with  a  huge  breast-pin 
of  sham  diamonds  in  his  shirt-frill,  confessed  to  an  ac- 
quaintance in  the  company  that  he  considered  himself  to 
have  married  the  most  perfect  woman  in  the  world.  But 
her  perfectly  handsome  person  did  not  appear  to  me  to 
entertain  much  soul  within  it.  Turtle-doves  No.  2  were 
of  a  more  refined  character  altogether,  agreeable  people, 
with  the  loving  soul  beaming  from  dark  and  beautiful 
eyes ;  she,  very  delicate  in  health,  after  only  one  year's 
marriage ;  he,  very  anxious  about  her.  Turtle-doves  No. 
3  were  neither  of  them  any  longer  young  or  handsome, 
but  they  were  of  all  the  three  pair  the  most  interesting, 
and  perhaps  the  most  happy.  It  did  one  good  to  see  them 
and  to  hear  their  history. 

They  belonged  to  the  poorer  class  of  white  people,  of 
Carolina  and  Georgia,  living  in  the  most  sandy  and  sterile 
part  of  the  country,  without  schools  or  any  means  of  edu- 
cation. She  married  her  husband  without  the  consent  of 
her  relatives,  and  when,  some  time  after  their  marriage, 
they  fell  into  great  poverty  through  some  fault  of  her  hus- 
band, her  relatives  gave  her  a  home  on  the  strict  condition 
that  she  should  never  again  see  him.    He,  extremely  angry 


468  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

at  this  prohibition,  swore  that  they  should  never  see  him 
again  until  he  came  to  fetch  away  his  wife  to  her  own 
home.  He  went  away,  and  not  a  word  was  heard  of  him 
for  seven  years.  She  remained  in  the  mean  time  with 
her  parents,  having  her  children  with  her,  two  hoys  and  a 
girl,  the  youngest  hoy  horn  just  before  the  father  left,  and 
by  degrees  she  lost  almost  all  hope  of  ever  again  seeing 
her  husband,  whom  she  loved  with  all  her  heart.  One 
day,  however,  the  eldest  boy  exclaimed,  "Here  comes  my 
father !"  She  could  not  believe  him ;  she  had  so  many 
years  waited  in  vain  to  hear  from  him.  She,  however, 
went  out  of  the  house  to  see  the  approaching  stranger,  and 
when  she  at  a  distance  recognized  her  husband,  she  sank 
fainting  to  the  earth.  He  had,  after  persevering  exertions, 
succeeded  in  securing  a  livelihood  as  a  carpenter  in  Florida, 
where  he  had  built  himself  a  cottage,  and  to  this  home 
it  was,  in  the  land  of  eternal  summer,  that  he  was  taking 
his  wife  and  children.  The  family  were  now  on  their  way 
thither. 

This  new  home  lay  on  the  banks  of  Lake  Monroe,  and 
there  it  was  that  the  married  pair  would  begin  a  new 
life.  In  that  moonlight  evening  they  kissed  and  rested 
one  against  the  other  with  the  most  heartfelt  love  and 
joy.  He  had  a  good  and  manly  appearance.  She  had 
fine  features,  and  had  evidently  been  handsome,  but  seem- 
ed to  have  suffered  from  sorrow  and  hard  labor.  She 
could  not  be  much  above  thirty,  and  he  looked  a  few 
years  younger  than  she.  She  rested  her  head  upon  his 
shoulder  with  an  expression  of  deep  confidence  and  peace. 
She  needed  no  longer  to  labor  alone  for  home  and  chil- 
dren, separated  from  her  husband,  and  surrounded  by  re- 
lations who  neither  esteemed  nor  loved  him.  He  was 
with  her ;  she  had  him  now  again,  and,  what  was  still 
more,  she  had  esteem  for  him  as  a  man  and  a  husband. 
He  could  and  he  would,  from  this  time  forward,  provide 
for  her  and  the  children.      He  was  taking  her  far,  far 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  469 

away  from  the  dreary  sand-hills,  where  she  had  suffered 
so  much  misery,  to  the  blooming  Florida;  orange-groves 
would  overshadow  her  dwelling  on  the  banks  of  the  lake, 
and  the  summer  winds  of  Florida  call  up  fresh  roses  on 
her  pale  cheeks.  All  these  delicious  feelings  and  thoughts 
might  clearly  be  read  in  the  expression  and  demeanor  of 
this  husband  and  wife.  They  seemed  to  me  the  happiest 
of  human  beings,  excepting — myself,  who  saw  them,  and 
to  whom  Grod  has  given,  so  much  enjoyment  in  the  happi- 
ness of  others. 

The  youngest  child  was  a  nice  little  lad,  handsome  and 
cheerful,  with  a  smart  little  cap  on  his  head ;  the  oldest 
boy,  fifteen  years  old,  was  not  so  nice;  and  the  girl  of 
fourteen,  Molly  by  name,  was  a  black  line  in  the  romance 
of  the  parents;  for,  although  not  ugly,  and  with  the  fa- 
ther's good  looks  in  her  round  countenance,  she  was  a 
genuine  daughter  of  the  sand-hills,  and  had  grown  up 
with  her  old  grandmother,  like  a  pine-tree  in  the  sand, 
without  any  more  trimming  or  training  than  it.  Our 
dominant  lady  took  this  wild  shoot  of  humanity  under 
her  charge,  and  her  attempts  to  educate  the  young  nov- 
ice, and  the  girl's  spirit  and  mode  of  behavior,  furnished 
us  with  subjects  for  many  a  hearty  laugh. 

The  first  night  on  the  St.  Matthew  was  hot  and  oppress- 
ive in  the  crowded-  and  narrow  saloon.  The  floor  was 
strewn  over  with  outstretched  ladies,  some  of  whom  were 
handsome,  two  quite  young  and  with  regularly  classical 
features,  very  lovely  in  their  sleep  and  their  reposing  po- 
sition; and  when  I  could  not  sleep,  I  amused  myself  by 
contemplating  them  with  an  artistic  eye  from  my  ele- 
vated berth. 

By  evening  we  had  left  the  River  Altamaha,  and,  after 
a  few  hours  by  sea,  we  found  ourselves  the  next  morning 
in  the  St.  John's  River,  after  having  happily  passed  a  dan- 
gerous sand-bank  at  its  mouth  without  suffering  more  than 
a  severe  shock  occasioned  by  a  swell  of  the  waves  dash- 


470  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

ing  us  against  the  bank,  and  which  made  old  St.  Matthew 
creak  in  all  his  joints.  But  he  did  not  go  to  pieces,  which 
sometimes  happens  under  such  circumstances,  in  which 
case  we  should  all  infallibly  have  gone  to  the  bottom,  so 
that  we  had  nothing  to  complain  of. 

Several  of  the  passengers  left  the  vessel  at  various  col- 
onies and  plantations  by  the  way,  so  that  it  became  less 
crowded  and  more  agreeable;  and  I  enjoyed  inexpressibly 
the  glorious  morning,  and  the  journey  up  the  river. 

St.  John's  River — in  the  Indian  language,  Welaka,  or  the 
Lake-River — is  like  a  chain  of  larger  and  smaller  lakes, 
linked  together  by  narrow  but  deep  straits,  which  wind 
in  innumerable  sinuosities  between  shores,  the  wonderful 
scenery  of  which  is  scarcely  to  be  imagined,  if  none  sim- 
ilar to  it  have  been  seen  before.  Here  is  again  primeval 
forest  such  as  I  saw  on  the  Savannah  River,  but  still  richer 
in  its  productions,  because  Welaka  flows,  for  the  greater 
part,  under  a  tropical  sky,  and  below  the  boundary  which 
frost  approaches.  We  see  here  thick  groves  and  belts  of 
palmettoes ;  here  are  wild  orange-groves  laden  with  brill- 
iant fruit  which  there  are  no  hands  to  gather ;  masses 
of  climbing  plants,  vanilla,  wild  vines,  convolvuli,  and 
many  others,  cover  the  shores  in  indescribable  luxuriance, 
forming  themselves  into  clumps  and  bushes  as  they  grow 
over  the  trees,  and  cypresses,  which  present  dark  green 
pyramids,  altars,  perfect  temples  with  columns,  arches, 
porticoes,  shadowy  aisles,  and,  on  all  hands,  the  most 
beautiful,  the  most  ornamental  festoons  flung  along  and 
over  the  clear  river.  From  amid  the  masses  of  foliage 
towers  upward  the  fan -palm,  with  its  beautiful  crown, 
free  and  fantastic ;  the  magnolia  stands  full  of  snow-white 
flowers,  and,  pre-eminent  amid  that  republic  of  plants, 
flowers,  and  multitudes  of  trees,  stand  the  lofty  cypresses 
like  protecting,  shadowy  patriarchs,  stretching  out  hor- 
izontally their  light  green  heads,  with  long,  waving  moss- 
es hanging  down  from  their  strong  branches. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  471 

Here  is  the  life  of  Nature  in  its  luxuriance,  but  it  is 
the  realm  and  reign  of  the  old  pagan  god  of  Nature,  old 
Pan,  which  embraces  both  the  good  and  the  evil,  life  and 
death,  with  the  same  love,  and  which  recognizes  no  law 
and  no  ordination  but  that  of  production  and  decay.  Be- 
neath these  verdant,  leafy  arches  which  overshadow  the 
water  lie  the  peaceful  tortoise,  and  the  cruel  alligator  also, 
waiting  for  its  prey.  Elks  inhabit  these  natural  temples ; 
also  panthers,  tigers,  and  black  bears.  Around  these  col- 
umns of  leaves  and  flowers  wind  the  rattlesnake  and  the 
poisonous  moccasin,  and  that  beautiful,  romantic  forest 
is  full  of  small,  poisonous,  noxious  creatures.  But  more 
dangerous  than  all  is  the  pleasant  air  which  comes  laden, 
during  the  summer,  with  the  miasmas  of  the  primeval  for- 
ests and  the  river,  bringing  to  the  colonist  fever  and  slowly 
consuming  diseases,  and  causing  these  wondrously  beau- 
tiful shores  still  to  lack  human  inhabitants.  Small  settle- 
ments have  been  commenced  here  and  there  on  the  river, 
but  have,  after  a  few  years,  been  deserted  and  left  to  decay. 

It  is,  however,  precisely  this  primeval  life  in  the  wilder- 
ness, this  wild,  luxuriant  beauty  defying  the  power  of  man, 
and  vigorous  in  its  own  affluence,  which  is  so  unspeak- 
ably interesting  to  me,  and  which  supplies  me  with  an 
incessant  festival.  And  the  air  is  so  pleasant,  and  the 
magnolias  so  full  of  flower,  the  river  so  full  of  life,  alliga- 
tors and  fishes  splashing  about,  large  and  beautiful  wa- 
ter-fowl on  all  hands — every  thing  is  so  luxuriant,  so  won- 
derfully rich,  wild,  and  lovely,  it  is  a  never-ending  fairy 
scene,  especially  in  the  evenings,  when  the  moon  rises 
and  throws  her  mystic  half  light  and  half  shadow  into  the 
arches  and  pillared  aisles  of  these  marvelous  natural  tem- 
ples. I  sit  in  silence  on  the  piazza,  and  gaze  upon  it  with 
devotion  and  rapture,  as  at  every  bend  of  the  river  new 
and  striking  scenes  present  themselves,  happy  when  I  can 
thus  sit  alone,  or  with  my  good  Mrs.  W.  H.  at  my  side,  in 
company  with  whom  I  am  always  right. 


472  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

But  we  are  not  without  our  little  disturbing  occurrences. 
On  our  first  morning  on  theWelaka,  St.  Matthew,  through 
carelessness,  ran  upon  a  snag,  and  this  gave  the  dominant 
lady  a  deal  to  do  in  the  way  of  reproof  and  command,  and 
we  had  to  lie  still  for  a  good  hour  to  repair  our  damage. 
Molly  of  the  sand-hills  was  always  in  our  way,  and  when 
we  by  any  chance  stood  in  hers,  we  had  nothing  to  expect 
but  a  good  slap.  Our  dominant  lady's  educational  manage- 
ment became  more  strict,  but  we  began  to  lose  all  hope  of 
the  power  of  cultivation  on  this  daughter  of  the  wilder- 
ness. We  had  all  sorts  of  droll  scenes,  and  the  gay  young 
Miss  Mac  I.  amused  both  herself  and  us  by  her  observ- 
ations on  Molly  and  her  ways. 

The  pair  of  turtle-doves  No.  1  and  No.  2  were  landed 
at  the  little  colony  of  Pilatka,  which  is  in  the  midst  of  a 
hot,  sandy  plain,  and  which,  probably,  was  on  that  ac- 
count more  healthy  than  other  situations  surrounded  by 
luxuriant  vegetation.  The  turtle-doves  No>.  3  would  ac- 
company us  to  Lake  Monroe. 

«We  refreshed  ourselves  at  Pilatka  by  a  grand  washing 
and  good  milk.  We  are  in  Pilatka  in  the  region  where 
frost  has  power — where  it  is  occasionally  felt,  though  it 
does  little  damage.  Somewhat  more  to  the  north,  in  the 
district  of  St.  Augustine,  a  large  plantation  of  sweet  or- 
anges was  entirely  destroyed  about  two  years  ago  by 
frost,  and  the  only  wealth  of  several  thousand  persons 
thus  perished.  At  Pilatka,  however,  I  recognize  the  cli- 
mate of  that  balmy  atmosphere,  and  soft,  fanning  airs 
which  I  breathed  in  Cuba.  This  air  can  only  exist  where 
frost  can  not  come. 

Amid  this  enchanting  air  there  lay  at  this  time  in  Pi- 
latka, far  from  his  relations  and  friends,  a  youth  who  was 
dying  of  consumption.  He  was  from  Philadelphia,  had 
journeyed  to  Florida  for  the  recovery  of  his  health ;  but 
the  disease  had  overpowered  him.  The  balmy  winds  of 
Florida  sported  in  through  the  window  of  his  room  ;  a 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  473 

faithful  negro  sat  and  fanned  the  sick  youth  with  a  fan 
— in  vain !  Fever  consumed  him,  and  he  could  not  have 
many  days  to  live.  He  was  handsome,  with  large  blue 
eyes  and  fair  hair.  His  grandmother  was  a  Swede,  and 
he  bore  her  name  of  Rudolph.  Feeble  as  he  was,  it  yet 
seemed  to  give  him  pleasure  to  see  his  distant  country- 
woman. He  was  now  bent  on  returning  to  Philadelphia, 
and  believed  that  he  should  be  able  to  get  there;  but 
Miss  Dix,  always  tenderly  watchful  over  the  sick,  took 
the  young  man's  address  in  Philadelphia  in  order  to  in- 
form his  relations  of  his  danger. 

We  were  at  Pilatka  delivered  over  by  St.  Matthew  to 
the  care  of  the  little,  ugly  Sarah  Spalding,  which  made 
me  this  evening  almost  repent  of  my  undertaking,  at  least 
on  account  of  my  friends.  Every  thing  was  in  the  high- 
est degree  uncomfortable  and  poor,  and  our  cabin  swarm- 
ed with  cockroaches.  But  I  have  scarcely  ever  laughed 
more  than  I  did  this  evening.  Miss  Mac  I.  entered  the 
cabin  in  a  sort  of  merry  rage  against  the  disturbers  of  our 
peace,  and  pursued  them  with  a  comic  fury ;  Mrs.  W.  H. 
too,  like  this  splendid  young  girl,  was  so  resolved  to  look 
at  all  our  difficulties  on  the  amusing  side,  that — every 
thing  became  a  subject  of  mirth. 

The  moonlight  nights  were  glorious,  and  we  sat  out  till 
late  on  the  little  triangular  piazza  aft  of  the  steamer,  and 
two  young  sisters  with  sweet  voices  sang  "  Dearest  May," 
and  other  delightful  negro  melodies ;  the  scenery  of  the 
banks  assumed  more  and  more  of  a  tropical  character. 
We  then  slept  a  little,  and  I,  for  my  part,  soundly,  spite 
of  the  cockroaches.  Our  dominant  lady,  however,  who 
considered  it  her  duty  to  watch  over  our  comfort,  and  who 
was  very  uneasy  all  night,  made  horrible  tigers  out  of 
little  mice. 

Early  the  next  day  we  lay  to  land  to  take  in  fuel,  and 
I  went  on  shore  to  refresh  myself  after  the  uncomforta- 
ble night.     The  country  seemed  altogether  uncultivated 


474  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

and  wild.  A  little  foot-path,  however,  wound  into  the 
woods,  and  along  it  I  went,  a  la  bonne  aventure,  on  an 
expedition  of  discovery,  and  as  I  wandered  alone  here 
through  the  wilderness,  my  wings  unfolded,  and  my 
whole  being  was  full  of  joy.  But  then  the  morning  and 
the  wilderness  too  were  so  unspeakably  beautiful !  The 
live-oaks  stood  in  their  magnificence  with  their  masses 
of  hanging  moss,  their  arcades  penetrated  by  the  beams 
of  the  ascending  sun.  The  morning  dew  lay  fresh  and 
sparkling  on  the  leaves  of  the  amber-tree,  on  the  innu- 
merable small  plants  and  bushes  which  bordered  the  path. 
The  earth  was  full  of  fragrance.  I  kissed  the  dew  from 
the  leaves;  I  laid  them  upon  my  eyes,  my  brow,  those 
fresh  morning  leaves  of  the  young  new  earth ;  I  wished 
to  bathe  anew  in  this  Urda-fountain;  I  wept,  half  from 
pain,  half  from  unspeakable  gratitude  and  joy.  Light  as 
a  bird  I  went  onward,  and  sang  a  hymn  of  praise  with 
the  birds,  for  I  had  here  indeed  drank  of  the  refreshing 
draught  for  w'hich  I  had  thirsted  during  a  long  pilgrim- 
age in  the  desert;  I  had  drank — I  still  drink  the  fullness 
of  life  from  the  fountains  of  (rod's  abundance,  and  was 
sustained  alone  by  His  power,  and  by  the  wings  which 
he  had  given  me!  Who  was  more  free,  who  was  more 
rich  than  I?  What  were  the  common  joys  and  pleasures 
of  life,  those  which  I  had  childishly  thirsted  after,  in  com- 
parison with  those  which  now  were  mine ;  and  not  mine 
alone — might,  would  become  those  of  many  others,  if  the 
many  only  knew  that — Grod  gives  them  wings,  and  teach- 
es them  how  to  use  them. 

Thus  rambled  I  onward,  full  of  blissful  emotions  and 
thoughts,  until  I  reached  an  open  space  in  the  forest, 
where  man  had  been,  where  probably  a  settlement  had 
formerly  existed.  But  now  the  place  was  deserted.  The 
lovely  forest  surrounded  in  silence  the  open,  deserted 
spot.  Neither  man  nor  beast  was  to  be  seen.  It  was  a 
profound,  wild  solitude.     I  so  much  enjoyed  my  morning 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  475 

ramble,  that  I  wished  Mrs.  W.  H.  to  participate  it,  and 
returned  to  seek  for  her.  I  found  her  sitting  on  the  shore 
at  the  foot  of  some  cypresses,  but  as  she  was  not  inclined 
for  the  walk,  I  seated  myself  by  her,  and  noticed  clusters 
of  small  white  flowers,  which,  surrounded  by  a  garland  of 
leaves,  floated  on  the  water  like  little  flowery  islands.  I 
did  not  know  their  name,  but  had  before  observed  them 
as  we  came  up  the  river.  As  they  grew  on  the  water 
close  to  the  shore,  I  examined  them,  and  found  that  the 
whole  plant  was  fastened  by  merely  one  slender  thread- 
like root  to  the  soil  at  the  bottom  of  the  water.  This  was 
easily  broken  by  wave  and  wind,  and  the  plant,  with  its 
white  flowers  in  the  midst  of  its  circlet  of  leaves,  like  the 
Draba  verna,  was  now  proceeding  on  its  foreign  travels, 
the  sport  of  wave  and  wind. 

Our  state  on  board  the  "  Sarah  Spalding"  was  some- 
what perturbed  this  morning.  A  couple  of  young  and 
very  pretty  girls  who  are  on  board,  without  their  mother 
or  any  older  friend,  had,  by  their  giddiness  and  thought- 
lessness, caused  two  gentlemen  to  pay  them  unbecoming 
attentions,  which  led  to  our  dominant  lady's  very  proper 
interference.  The  young  girls  received  a  very  suitable 
admonition  from  two  of  the  elder  ladies,  who,  however, 
were  strangers  to  them,  and  one  of  the  faulty  gentlemen 
was  publicly  reprimanded  by  the  captain  of  the  steam- 
boat. He  was  an  elderly  man,  and  had  such  a  good  ex- 
pression of  countenance  that  I  could  scarcely  believe  that 
he  deserved  the  rebuke  which  he  received,  and  which  af- 
fected him  so  much  that  he  became  ill. 

It  was  with  real  pleasure  that  I  heard  the  true  and 
beautiful  motherly  reprimand  which  Mrs.  "W.  H.  gave  the 
handsomest  and,  according  to  appearances,  the  most  blam- 
able  of  the  young  girls,  and  I  saw  with  equal  pleasure  the 
manner  in  which  the  young  girl  received  it.  She  stood 
silent  before  the  elder  lady,  who  had  called  her  to  her, 
and  listened  silently  and  respectfully ;  not  a  word,  not  a 


476  HOMES  OF  THE.  NEW  WORLD. 

gesture,  betrayed  vexation  or  impatience  ;  she  seemed  as 
if  she  would  really  let  the  good  and  wise  words  sink  deep 
into  her  heart — as  if  a  good  seed  for  the  future  had  been 
sown  in  her  soul.  I  was  the  only  one  of  the  elder  ladies 
who  did  not  give  the  young  girls  a  moral  lecture.  If 
the  truth  must  be  spoken,  I  had  more  inclination  to  ad- 
dress, as  a  sister,  the  sweet  young  girl  who  had  received 
the  motherly  rebuke  so  beautifully.  Perhaps  she  under- 
stood my  good-will,  for  certain  it  is  that  during  the  day 
she  seemed  to  wish  to  prove  to  me  hers  by  various  little 
agreeable  services ;  and  when  we,  in  the  evening,  sepa- 
rated, she  took  leave  of  me  in  a  manner  which  made  me 
give  her  a  cordial  "  God  bless  you  !"  Why  were  such 
young  lambs  sent  out  alone  into  the  wilderness,  among 
wolves  and  eagles,  without  any  controlling  or  guiding 
friend?  It  is  neither  right  nor  well.  My  faith  in  the 
good  and  the  pure  in  young  girls  is  great,  and  has  been 
strengthened  even  by  this  little  occurrence ;  but  people 
should  not  treat  young  children  as  if  they  had  already  cut 
their  wise  teeth. 

Our  journey  was  enchanting  the  whole  day ;  we  emerged 
from  the  narrow,  winding  river-passes  into  a  large,  clear 
lake,  surrounded  by  luxuriant  verdant  banks.  The  afflu- 
ence of  vegetation  and  animal  life  seemed  to  increase 
with  every  hour ;  the  Flora  of  the  tropics  and  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  tropics  seemed  to  approach  ;  we  advanced 
into  the  home  of  eternal  summer.  The  wild  sugar-cane, 
the  maiden-cane  grew  along  the  banks,  and  showed  that 
the  soil  was  favorable  for  sugar  cultivation.  The  temple 
of  Nature  became  still  richer.  Beautiful,  gorgeous  flowers, 
red  and  blue,  upon  long  stalks,  white  lilies,  and  gigantic 
water-plants,  among  which  was  the  tall  Alisma  plantago, 
shone  like  stems  of  light  beneath  the  dark  green  arches  ; 
flocks  of  little  green  parrots  flew  twittering  over  the  wild 
sugar-cane  and  into  the  palm-groves ;  wild  turkeys,  lar- 
ger than  our  tames  ones,  were  seen  on  the  shores  ;  lovely, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  477 

slender  water-fowl  fluttered  fearlessly  around  us,  and 
equally  fearless,  but  much  less  lovely,  thousands  of  alli- 
gators swam  in  front  of  and  on  each  side  of  our  vessel, 
and  fish  leaped  and  splashed  about  as  if  they  were  out  of 
their  senses,  but  whether  from  terror  or  from  joy  I  know 
not.     It  was  a  grand  spectacle  the  whole  way. 

"We  were  also  more  comfortable  on  board,  for  our  little 
coterie  was  now  almost  alone  on  the  "  Sarah  Spalding," 
and  there  was  added  to  it  an  enlightened  and  agreeable 
French  Creole,  Mr.  Belle  C,  from  Cuba,  who,  with  a 
friend  of  his,  were  on  a  journey  of  discovery  in  Florida, 
to  ascertain  the  availability  of  the  soil  for  sugar  cultiva- 
tion. His  society  was  a  great  pleasure  and  ornament  to 
our  little  party.  The  captain  was  a  polite  and  good-na- 
tured man,  and  the  crew,  who  were  all  negroes,  seemed 
to  have  very  much  their  own  way,  but  that  was  a  good 
way  ;  they  were  all  agreeable  and  cheerful.  The  cook,  a 
young  man,  who  cooked  very  good  dinners,  was  a  really 
witty  fellow,  and  said  and  did  many  very  amusing  things. 
But  the  pearl  of  the  black  company  was  our  little  waiter, 
the  negro  boy  Sam,  clever,  intelligent,  and  willing,  who 
attended  to  all  our  little  wants,  waited  at  table,  and  did 
every  thing,  and  was  always  merry.  We  had  no  female 
attendant  on  board,  which  we  found  to  be  an  advantage, 
because  these  ladies  are,  in  the  American  steam-boats, 
not  frequently  patterns  of  their  sex  or  of  their  race,  wheth- 
er they  be  white,  black,  brown,  or  yellow.  We  had, 
however,  on  the  St.  Matthew,  a  remarkable  agreeable  and 
also  very  handsome  young  negro  woman  as  stewardess ; 
she  was  a  free  woman,  married  to  a  free  negro. 

The  only  annoyance  I  experienced  the  whole  way  was 
the  lust  of  shooting  which  possessed  one  of  the  passengers 
in  particular,  and  who  was  not  contented  with  shooting 
alligators  right  and  left,  but  who  even  shot  the  lovely 
water-fowl,  which,  however,  he  could  not  make  any  use 
of,  and  it  was  distressing  to  me  to  see  them  fall  down 


478  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

wounded,  here  and  there,  among  the  weeds.  I  took  the 
liberty  of  speaking  my  mind  to  him  about  this  needless 
shooting.  He  smiled,  agreed  with  what  I  said,  and  con- 
tinued to  shoot.     I  wished  him,  in  petto,  bad  digestion  ! 

As  regards  the  alligators,  I  could  not  have  very  much 
compassion  on  them.  They  are  so  hideous  to  behold,  and 
are  so  terrible ;  for,  though  they  do  not  attack  grown  peo- 
ple unless  in  self-defense,  still  they  carry  off  the  little 
negro  children  without  ceremony.  They  swim,  with  the 
upper  part  of  the  body  above  the  water,  so  that  it  is  not 
difficult  to  hit  them  with  a  bullet  in  the  body  and  the 
fore-legs.  On  this  they  dive  down,  or,  if  severely  wound- 
ed, turn  on  one  side;  they  are  often  seen  like  masses  of 
living  mud,  rolling  themselves  on  the  shore  to  hide  them- 
selves among  the  water-reeds  that  grow  there.  Their 
number  and  their  fearlessness  here  are  amazing.  It  is 
said  that  even  two  years  ago  they  were  so  numerous 
that  it  was  difficult  for  boats  to  get  along.  They  make 
a  sort  of  grunting  or  bellowing  sound,  and  it  is  said  that 
ear4y  in  the  spring,  at  pairing-time,  they  make  a  hor- 
rible noise. 

I  spent  the  whole  day  on  the  piazza,  dividing  my  at- 
tention between  natural  scenes  and  the  perusal  of  Colum- 
bus's journal,  which  he  kept  during  his  first  voyage  of  dis- 
covery among  the  enchanting  islands  of  the  New  World. 
Molly  of  the  sand-hills  was  troublesome  all  day,  though 
she  mostly  kept  out  of  the  way  of  our  dominant  lady. 
In  the  afternoon  we  passed  many  wild  orange-groves. 

"We  reached  Lake  Monroe,  the  goal  of  our  journey,  last 
evening.  Beyond  this  point  there  is  neither  steam-boat 
nor  yet  any  carriage-road.  Mr.  Belle  C.  left  us  here,  in- 
tending to  continue  his  journey  of  discovery  through  the 
wilderness  on  horseback.  "We  landed  at  Enterprise,  a 
new  settlement,  with  an  hospital,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Fort  Melun,  which  also  is  situated  near  the  lake,  and  is 
erected  as  a  defense  against  the  Indians.     The  house  at 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  479 

Enterprise  stood  in  deep  sand,  and  the  rooms  seemed  so 
uncomfortable  and  the  people  so  ill,  that  we  determined 
to  pass  the  night  upon  the  lake  in  our  little  floating  hab- 
itation, with  which  we  are  now  become  almost  good  friends. 
We  put  off,  therefore,  from  the  wretched,  temporary  quay 
at  the  unfortunate  Enterprise,  steered  nearer  to  Fort  Me- 
lun,  and  cast  anchor  at  a  short  distance  from  it.  At  no 
great  distance  from  the  shore  stood  the  home  of  the  tur- 
tie-doves  No.  3,  and  they  were  now  about  to  leave  the 
steamer.  It  was  a  beautiful  sight,  before  they  left,  to  see 
the  husband  and  the  wife  sitting  together  on  their  bag- 
gage, quietly  but  joyfully  awaiting  the  boat  which  would 
take  them  on  shore.  It  was  beautiful,  also,  to  see  them 
in  the  little  boat,  with  their  children  and  their  effects,  ad- 
vancing toward  the  verdant  shore,  nodding  a  friendly  fare- 
well to  us.  If  the  daughter  Molly  had  only  been  a  little 
more  charming!  The  last  torment  and  the  last  memory 
of  her  was  when  she  took  hold  of  my  shoulder,  just  as  a 
man  would  take  hold  of  a  hedge-stake  to  help  himself  to 
climb  up  a  bank,  as  her  father's  voice  was  heard  calling 
her  to  the  boat.  No,  no,  amid  the  summer  of  Florida, 
she  ought  yet  to  bloom  out  like  a  rose,  and  be  married  to 
the  commandant  at  Fort  Melun,  or  to  the  owner  of  En- 
terprise. 

We  lost  sight  of  the  colonist  family  when  they  reached 
the  shore,  but  a  bright  light  was  soon  afterward  seen 
glimmering  in  a  house  near  the  spot  where  they  landed. 
It  was  now  dusk,  and  twilight  increased  rapidly,  although 
the  sky  was  still  clear.  I  sat  for  a  long  time  on  deck  en- 
joying the  quiet  scene.  The  dark,  low  shore  lay  like  a 
vast  myrtle  garland  around  the  mirror-like  lake.  Fire- 
flies glimmered  here  and  there  above  it,  and  fishes,  large 
and  small,  struck  out  their  circles  incessantly.  The  bird 
of  evening,  whippowil,  whistled  his  pleasing  note  from 
the  shore,  and  the  alligators  grunted  in  chorus.  The  ne- 
groes of  our  little  vessel  began  to  play  duets  upon  the 


480  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

violin  and  the  flageolet  very  sweetly,  and  with  excellent 
musical  skill  and  feeling,  all  of  them  gay  and  sportive 
melodies.  They  continued  this  toward  midnight.  From 
three  places  only  on  the  shore  were  lights  visible.  The 
one  was  from  an  orange  plantation  belonging  to  a  widow 
lady,  the  second  from  Enterprise,  the  third  from  the  home 
of  the  colonist,  the  pair  of  turtle-doves  No.  3,  and  this 
burned  remarkably  bright  in  the  growing  darkness  of 
evening.  The  whole  region  was  low;  no  single  object 
stood  forth  pre-eminently.  A  few  clouds  floated,  or  rather 
lay,  like  small  islands  on  the  western  horizon,  and  melt- 
ed by  degrees  into  evening  glow.  I  endeavored  in  vain 
among  them  to  discover  some  symbolic  poetical  shape; 
the  highest  that  I  could  arrive  at  was  a  lady  in  a  Quak- 
er's bonnet,  sitting  on  a  haystack.  She  and  all  the  other 
clouds  changed  themselves,  finally,  into  a  herd  of  little 
pigs,  and  then  vanished.  The  lights  at  Enterprise,  and 
at  the  widow  lady's,  were  extinguished.  Every  breach 
of  wind  had  laid  itself  to  rest;  every  thing  on  the  shore 
was  dark  ;  the  light  alone  in  the  colonist's  home  still 
burned,  but  dimmer,  and  finally  it  also  was  extinguished. 
But  I  saw  it  burning  in  the  house  yet.  Toward  mid- 
night the  negroes'  music  was  silent  also,  but  the  alliga- 
tors and  the  whippowils  continued  their  duet  the  whole 
night  through.  i 

I  could  sleep  but  very  little,  although  I  felt  perfectly 
well.  But  the  spirits  of  the  air  called  me,  and  I  was 
obliged  to  rise  again  and  again,  and  go  out  upon  our  little 
piazza  aft  of  the  vessel,  into  which  the  doors  of  the  saloon 
opened,  and  there,  attired  merely  in  my  white  night-dress, 
I  contemplated  again  and  again  the  tranquil  scene.  And 
still  at  early  peep  of  dawn,  when  the  stars  grew  dim,  and 
only  the  morning  star  stood  bright  above  the  bright  mir- 
ror of  the  lake,  was  continued  the  duet  between  the  birds 
and  the  alligators.  When  the  sun  rose  they  became  si- 
lent, and  other  birds  then  began  to  sing,  and  fishes  to  leap 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  481 

about;  and  the  monsters  of  the  river  swam  and  swim 
still  around  us,  pondering,  as  it  seems,  on  our  vessel  and 
its  provisions.  The  cruel  sportsman  is  no  longer  with  us, 
and  we,  in  the  Sarah  Spalding,  live  at  peace  with  the  whole 
world,  and  merely,  like  the  crocodiles,  ponder  about  our 
breakfast. 

Later.  We  were  bent  on  having  fresh  fish  for  breakfast, 
and  therefore  our  captain  let  a  couple  of  negroes  row  out 
in  a  boat  nearer  to  the  shore,  and  throw  out  a  couple  of 
nets,  which  were  thrown  out  and  taken  in  again  at  once, 
and  in  ten  minutes  we  were  breakfasting  on  a  most  de- 
licious fish,  which  resembled  flounders  in  taste.  No  fish- 
ermen as  yet  dwell  on  these  banks,  and  the  river  swarms 
with  life. 

In  the  afternoon  we  commenced  our  return.  I  shall 
not  advance  any  further  south  in  Florida,  but  I  see  here 
the  character  of  the  country  and  its  scenery  in  this  south- 
ern portion.  Ae  whole  of  this  part  of  the  country  is  low, 
and  abounds  in  swampy  ground  and  fogs,  as  well  as  in 
forests  of  fir- wood,  called  everglades,  which  are  said  to  com- 
bine an  amount  of  animal  life  which  is  truly  astonishing. 
The  natural  historian,  Agassiz,  who  saw  these  everglades 
for  the  first  time  this  spring  and  summer,  clasped  his  hands 
in  admiration  and  devotion  at  the  sight  of  these  hitherto 
unknown  riches  of  nature.  Here,  and  yet  further  south 
toward  the  Mexican  Gulf,  the  country  becomes  still  more 
flat,  and  the  vegetation  is  divided  between  the  half  trop- 
ical, which  I  had  already  seen,  and  vast  forests  of  Pinus 
Australis,  or  light  wood,  in  every-day  language.  Indians 
of  the  Seminole  and  Creek  nations  still  live  in  these  wild 
regions,  and  are  dangerous  to  emigrants.  In  the  most 
southern  portion  of  Florida  it  is  said  that  the  cocoa-palm 
and  the  banana  might  be  cultivated.  What  an  empire, 
what  a  world  is  North  America,  embracing  all  climates, 
natural  scenery,  and  productions.  It  is  indeed  an  empire 
for  all  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

Vol  II— X 


482  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Ortega  Plantation,  Florida,  May  23. 
Again,  my  child,  on  a  bank,  but  not  in  a  steam-boat 
(our  poor  little  Magnolia  is  said  to  be  lying  there  still, 
without  any  hope  of  getting  off  before  the  next  full  moon  ! 
melancholy  !),  but  on  a  maize  plantation  belonging  to  rel- 
atives of  the  Mac  I.  family,  where  I  am  enjoying  rest 
and  refreshment  with  an  amiable  family,  in  a  good  and 
hospitable  home.  And  very  good  it  is  to  be  able  to  rest 
after  the  fatigues  and  difficulties  of  the  journey,  which 
were  not  small  by  any  means.  There  were  indeed  mo- 
ments when  I  suspected  that  the  first  discoverers  of  these 
vast  wildernesses  could  not  have  endured  greater  suffering 
than  we  did ;  baked  as  it  were  in  an  oven  on  our  vessel 
by  the  burning  sun,  and  without  water  fit  to  drink.  "With 
Mr.  Belle  C.  disappeared  all  our  good,  ice-cold  water,  and 
we  then  only  discovered  that  the  polite  Creole  had  al- 
lowed us  ladies  to  enjoy  the  ice  which  he  had  brought 
from  Cuba  for  his  own  use.  There  was^iow  an  end  of 
that.  Sarah  Spalding  had  no  supply  of  drinking  water 
in  her  larder,  and  we  were  reduced  to  drink  river- water, 
which  was  parboiled  by  the  heat  of  the  sun,  and  looked 
as  if  it  were  distilled  from  alligators.  I  could  not  drink 
it.  But  then  the  captain,  at  my  request — a  capital,  good 
fellow  was  that  captain! — landed  myself  and  Co.  in  a 
wild  orange-grove,  and  we  there  gathered  whole  sacks 
full  of  oranges,  from  which  I  brewed  lemonade,  and  the 
whole  company  was  refreshed  thereby.  That  wild  orange- 
grove  was  a  wonderful  sight.  The  captain  and  two  of 
his  men  went  on  before  with  axes  to  cut  a  pathway  from 
the  shore.  The  wood  itself  was  one  wild  tangle  of  thorny 
vegetation,  fallen  trees,  and  all  kinds  of  bushes  and  plants. 
Within  the  orange-grove  thousands  of  oranges  lay  on  the 
ground,  and  on  the  slightest  shaking  of  the  trees  showers 
of  others  came  down  upon  us.  Many  of  the  oranges 
which  grew  here  were  as  large  as  small  infants'  heads 
These  oranges  are  sour,  but  very  juicy,  and  of  an  agree 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  483 

I 
able  acid,  and  these  golden  chalices  of  the  wilderness  af- 
forded us  a  real  refreshment.  The  captain's  store  of  sug- 
ar diminished  rapidly,  but  the  good,  kind  man  said  not  a 
word,  and  so  he  had  as  much  lemonade  as  he  liked  to 
drink.  I  had  four  of  the  huge  projecting  spines  of  the 
orange-tree,  which  are  sometimes  two  ells  long,  hewn  off 
for  sticks  for  some  gentlemen  friends  at  home  (brother-in- 
law  Q,.  and  Fabian  "W.  are  of  the  elect).  These  sticks 
are  very  handsome  when  they  are  stained  ;  they  are  very 
strong,  and  greatly  valued  by  the  American  gentlemen. 
As  memories  of  the  orange-grove,  we  took  away  with  us, 
besides  oranges  and  sticks,  a  multitude  of  small  insects 
of  the  species  here  called  tick,  and  with  which  we  be- 
came personally  acquainted  at  home,  as  small,  ugly,  flat 
creatures,  which  eat  into  the  skin.  I  was  particularly 
infested  by  these  inhabitants  of  the  orange-grove,  and  la- 
bored the  whole  day  in  getting  rid  of  them.  Among  the 
adventures  of  our  return  was  the  taking  fire  of  our  sun- 
scorched  vessel  in  one  of  the  lakes,  which  gave  our  domi- 
nant lady  a  great  deal  to  do  with  her  tongue.  She  made 
the  quarter  of  an  ell  long  flames  two  ells  long,  and  if  it 
had  not  been  for  her  there  would  have  been  an  end  to  us 
all !  The  captain  and  his  men,  in  the  mean  time,  extin- 
guished the  fire  so  quickly  and  silently,  that  I  did  not 
know  of  the  danger  until  it  was  over. 

"We  suffered  through  the  night  from  cockroaches  and 
musquitoes,  by  day  from  the  hot  sun  and  suffocating 
fumes  from  the  engine  fire.  Amid  all  these  bitter  mo- 
ments came  moments  when  the  cool  breezes  enabled  us 
to  enjoy  once  more  the  invariably  beautiful  and  fantastic 
scenery,  and  the  intercourse  and  conversation  of  friends. 

One  afternoon  we  saw  a  large  crane-roost,  as  it  is  call- 
ed, that  is,  a  republic  of  white  cranes.  It  was  upon  an 
island,  on  which  grew  tall,  shadowy  trees.  On  the  ap- 
proach of  the  steamer,  the  republic  rose  into  the  air 
like  a  large  cloud,  then  immediately  after  settled  down 


484  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

again,  and  the  island  looked  as  if  it  were  covered  with 
snow. 

We  called,  on  our  return,  at  two  cities,  Jacksonville 
and  St.  Mary's.  Jacksonville  is  an  increasing  city,  its  sit- 
uation being  very  favorable  for  trade ;  but  it  lies  amid 
sand,  and  was  a  horribly  hot,  disagreeable  place.  We 
slept  there  one  night,  at  a  hotel  which  resembled  a  noisy 
wooden  barrack.  St.  Mary's,  which  is  some  years  older, 
is  not  so  well  situated  for  trade,  and  is  on  the  decrease ; 
it,  however,  was  more  agreeable  than  Jacksonville,  from 
the  beautiful,  shady  rows  of  trees  in  its  streets.  Wander- 
ing here,  I  saw  a  well-dressed  negro,  about  fifty  years  old, 
who  was  tattooed  like  the  Luccomees  whom  I  had  seen 
at  Cuba.     I  addressed  him,  saying, 

"  You  have  come  hither  from  Africa  ?"  He  replied, 
Yes ;  that  he  had  been  smuggled  hither  from  Cuba  many 
years  ago.  He  was  now  overseer  on  a  plantation,  and 
was  very  well  off.  He  was  a  Christian,  and  seemed 
pleased  to  be  so.  He  spoke  very  sensibly  and  cheerfully, 
and  had  a  good,  open  countenance. 

"  You  do  not  wish  to  return  to  Africa  ?"  said  I. 

"  Oh  yes,  Missis ;  oh  yes,  that  I  do !"  replied  he ; 
"  there  I  should  be  still  better  off." 

*  But  people  often  kill  one  another  there,"  remon- 
strated I. 

"  Oh,  but  nobody  troubles  themselves  about  that.  And 
there  are  a  great  many  good  people  who  live  there  at 
peace." 

"But  look  here,  my  friend,"  said  Colonel  Mac  I.,  who  is 
a  strong  Calvinist ;  "if  you  had  remained  in  Africa,  you 
would  not  have  become  a  Christian  as  you  now  are,  and 
then  the  devil,  in  the  end,  would  have  had  you !" 

The  negro  laughed,  looked  down,  shook  his  head,  and 
twisted  round  his  cap  which  he  had  in  his  hand,  and  at 
length  exclaimed,  again  looking  up  with  an  expression  of 
humor  and  inventive  acuteness, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  435 

"  Now,  Massa,  look'ee  here !  The  Gospel  is  now  being 
preached  over  the  whole  of  Africa,  and  if  I  had  remained 
there,  what  was  to  hinder  me  from  being  one  who  heard 
it  as  well  there  as  here?" 

To  this  there  was  no  reply  to  be  made,  and  the  sensi- 
ble, good-tempered  negro  had  the  last  word. 

One  of  our  pleasant  incidents  was  that  our  dominant 
lady  left  us  by  the  way,  to  domineer,  I  should  imagine, 
in  some  boarding-house  of  one  of  the  cities  in  this  part  of 
Florida ;  and  the  atmosphere  became  much  less  oppress- 
ive in  our  little  community  in  consequence.  Miss  Dix 
left  us  also  to  go  to  St.  Augustine,  the  most  southern  city 
of  the  United  States,  the  prisons  and  benevolent  institu- 
tions of  which  place  she  wished  to  visit.  Wherever  she 
goes,  she  endeavors  to  do  good  to  the  sick,  the  neglected, 
or  the  criminal,  and  to  scatter  the  seed  of  spiritual  cul- 
ture wherever  she  is  able.  She  scatters  about  her,  like 
morning  dew,  as  she  goes  on  her  way,  little  miniature 
books  called  "  Dewdrops,"  containing  religious  proverbs, 
and  numbers  of  small  tracts,  with  pretty  wood-cuts  and 
ditto  stories.  Molly  of  the  sand-hills  ought  to  derive 
nourishment  from  this  manna  which  would  suffice  to 
make  her  a  thinking  and  amiable  woman. 

St.  Augustine  was  founded  by  the  Spaniards,  and  is  the 
oldest  city  in  North  America ;  the  city  still  preserves  the 
character  and  style  of  building  which  prove  its  origin,  but 
of  late  years  it  has  very  much  fallen  into  decay,  and  since 
the  destruction  by  frost  of  the  orange  plantations,  which 
constituted  the  principal  branch  of  trade  in  the  city,  it 
has  become  still  more  deserted.  It  is  now  visited  gen- 
erally by  invalids,  who  during  the  winter  months  come 
hither  to  breathe  its  pleasant  atmosphere  and  invigorating 
sea-breezes.  St.  Augustine  lies  somewhat  to  the  south  of 
New  Orleans,  but  has  a  far  more  salubrious  climate. 

It  was  not  until  the  year  1819  that  Florida  passed  from 
the  dominion  of  the  Spaniards  to  that  of  the  United  States, 


436  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

and  it  became  united  to  these,  as  an  independent  state,  in 
the  year  1845,  but  is  said  not  yet  to  contain  a  greater 
population  than  about  80,000  whites.  The  Indians  and 
the  insalubrity  of  the  swampy  soil  have  retarded,  and  still 
retard,  the  cultivation  of  the  country.  But  in  the  north- 
western portion  of  the  state  the  land  lies  higher,  and  is 
more  cultivated,  and  has  two  increasing  cities ;  the  polit- 
ical capital  is  Tallahassee,  with  beautiful  plantations,  villas, 
gardens,  and,  as  I  have  been  informed,  pleasant  domestic 
and  social  life  amid  that  lovely  summer-warm  scenery. 
And  where  the  Anglo-American  comes,  there  always  come 
at  the  same  time  happy  domestic  life,  friendly  social  in- 
tercourse, and  every  comfort  of  life. 

All  these  we  enjoy  also  in  this  kind  home,  although  joy 
is  not  properly  at  home  here.  The  eldest  daughter  of  the 
family,  a  beautiful,  young,  newly-married  lady  in  the 
bloom  of  her  life  and  her  maternal  joy,  died  lately  in  giv- 
ing birth  to  her  second  child,  and  the  grief  of  this  weighs 
heavily  on  the  mind  of  her  mother.  A  splendid  little 
grandson,  very  like  his  grandmother,  and  full  of  life,  can 
not  console  her;  and  her  husband  and  the  other  children 
participate  in  her  sorrow.  The  whole  family  has  an  ex- 
pression of  so  much  good-heartedness  and  gentleness,  that 
one  sees  plain  enough  that  the  slaves  can  not  suffer.  But 
the  drought  is  fearful ;  the  maize  plants  on  this  plantation 
are  withered  in  the  sand,  of  which  this  plantation  has  more 
than  its  ordinary  share ;  and  the  harvest  of  this  year  wears 
a  mournful  appearance.  It  is  now  more  than  four  months 
since  I  have  seen  a  cloudy  day.  Even  in  this  beautiful 
Florida,  life  is  heavy  and  dry  as  regards  the  poor  children 
of  earth. 

But  when  in  the  mornings  early  I  wake  and  feel  the 
balmy  wind  of  Florida  play  through  the  white  curtains 
round  my  bed,  and  hear  the  nightingale  of  America  pour- 
ing forth,  in  its  many  tongues,  its  melodious  inspirations 
in  the  trees  before  my  window,  then  do  I  exalt  the  home 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  487 

of  summer,  and  wonder  not  that  Ferdinand  de  Soto  and 
his  young  men  were  enchanted  by  it,  and  it  seems  to  me 
almost  unnatural  that  life  here  can  be  heavy  or  dark. 

We  remain  here  a  couple  of  days  in  expectation  of  a 
good  steam-boat  which  will  take  us  to  Mr.  C.'s  plantation 
at  Darien,  whence  we  return  to  Savannah. 

This  plantation  lies  in  a  sandy  tract,  and  the  sand  con- 
siderably encroaches  upon  the  charms  of  nature  and  coun- 
try life.  There  is  here,  however,  a  foot-path  by  the  river 
which  follows  a  wild  and  woody  shore,  than  which  nothing 
more  picturesque  can  be  conceived,  in  particular  the  mass- 
es of  trees  and  wild  boscage  which  rise  like  a  lofty  wall  be- 
tween the  shore  and  the  sloping  cultivated  land.  Splen- 
did magnolias,  covered  with  white  flowers,  lift  aloft  among 
these  their  dark,  shady  crowns.  The  magnolia  is  the 
most  magnificent  tree  of  the  Southern  States.  I  wander 
here  alone  in  the  afternoons,  wondering  sometimes  wheth- 
er I  shall  hear,  from*the  dense  thickets,  the  warning  sig- 
nal of  the  rattlesnake — for  this  serpent  gives  warning  be- 
fore he  makes  an  attack  or  approaches  near.  But,  although 
rattlesnakes  are  numerous  in  Florida,  I  have  not  yet  hap- 
pened either  to  see  or  to  hear  a  living  one.  I  however 
saw  this  afternoon  one  which  the  negroes  had  just  killed 
on  the  plantation  and  brought  to  show  the  family.  It 
might  be  about  three  yards  long,  and  as  thick  as  my  arm. 
The  head  was  much  injured  by  the  blows  it  had  received, 
and  the  terrible  poison-fangs  were  revealed.  I  have  had 
the  rattle,  with  its  fourteen  joints,  given  to  me  to  take 
home  with  me  to  Sweden.  A  year  ago  a  negro  on  the 
plantation  was  bitten  on  the  leg  by  a  rattlesnake ;  great 
endeavors  were  made  to  save  the  limb  from  amputation, 
but  in  vain  ;  it  was,  in  the  end,  obliged  to  be  taken  off,  to 
put  an  end  to  the  great  and  increasing  suffering. 

A  pretty  little  village  on  the  plantation  is  the  home  of 
the  black  nurse  of  the  gentleman  of  the  house,  and  there 
she  rests  from  her  labors,  under  circumstances  which  test- 


488  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

ify  the  tenderest  care.  She  has  her  own  neat  little  house, 
on  a  terrace  by  the  river,  and  within  it  every  convenience 
that  an  old  person  can  desire;  a  comfortable  rocking-chair 
is  even  among  these,  and  children  and  children's  children, 
whom  she  has  faithfully  nursed,  visit  her  with  love  and 
presents.  She  has  had  many  children  of  her  own,  but  she 
acknowledged  that  the  white  children  were  dearest  to  her ; 
and  this  affection  of  the  black  nurses,  or  foster-mothers, 
to  the  children  of  the  whites  is  a  well-known  fact.  An- 
other fact  also,  which  is  often  witnessed  in  the  slave 
states,  is  the  tender  care  which  is  bestowed  upon  these 
faithful  black  foster-mothers  in  their  old  age  by  the  fam- 
ily, that  is  to  say,  when  the  families  are  able. 

St.  Simon's  Island,  May  27th. 

In  front  of  my  window  runs,  broad  and  clear,  the  west- 
ern arm  of  the  Altamaha  River,  and  beside  it  sits  the  un- 
dersigned upon  an  island  on  the  coast  of  Georgia,  be- 
tween the  river  and  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  I  am  now  at 
the  house  of  Mr.  J.  C,  a  planter,  in  the  midst  of  gardens 
and  olive-groves,  where  the  family  seeks  for  its  summer 
pleasure  and  the  salubrious  air  of  the  sea  when  fevers  be- 
gin to  ravage  the  large  plantation  at  Darien,  the  principal 
residence  of  the  family. 

Mr.  C.  is  one  of  the  greatest  planters  in  the  south  of 
the  United  States,  and  owns  about  two  thousand  negro 
slaves,  whom  he  employs  on  his-  rice  and  cotton  planta- 
tions. He  had  been  mentioned  to  me  as  a  reformer,  who 
had  introduced  trial  by  jury  among  his  slaves,  with  many 
other  educational  institutions,  to  prepare  them  for  a  fu- 
ture life  of  liberty.  And  this  created  in  me  a  desire  to 
become  acquainted  with  him  and  his  plantations.  But  I 
did  not  find  him  a  reformer,  merely  a  disciplinarian,  with 
great  practical  tact,  and  also  some  benevolence  in  the 
treatment  of  the  negroes.  In  other  respects  I  found  him 
to  be  a  true  representative  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  South- 
ern States — a  very  polite  man,  possessing  as  much  knowl- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  439 

edge  as  an  encyclopedia,  and  interesting  to  me  in  a  high 
degree  through  the  wealth  and  fascination  of  his  conver- 
sation. He  is  distinguished  for  his  knowledge  of  natural 
history ;  he  has  a  beautiful  collection  of  the  natural  pro- 
ductions of  America,  and  the  lecture  which  I  heard  him 
read  this  morning,  in  the  midst  of  these,  on  the  geology 
and  the  rock  formation  of  America,  has  given  me  a  clear- 
er knowledge  of  the  geological  structure  of  this  portion  of 
the  world  than  I  ever  possessed  before. 

Mr.  C.  has  an  unusual  faculty  for  systematization,  and 
for  demonstrating  the  characteristic  points  of  a  subject. 
A  conversation  with  him  on  any  subject  can  not  fail  of 
being  interesting,  even  if  one  differs  from  him  in  opinion. 

But  as  Mr.  C,  on  the  question  of  slavery,  unites  with 
the  good  party  in  the  South,  who  regard  the  colonization 
of  Africa  by  the  liberated  negro  slaves  as  the  final  result 
and  object  of  the  institution  of  slavery,  it  was  any  thing 
but  difficult  for  me  to  converse  with  him  on  this  subject, 
and  that  which  naturally  belongs  to  it.  Neither  could  I 
do  other  than  agree  with  him  in  the  views  he  expressed 
regarding  the  peculiar  faculties  of  the  negro  race  and 
their  future  destiny,  because  they  accorded  with  my  own 
observations.  Among  those  views  of  his  which  I  must 
adopt,  I  recall  the  following: 

The  tropical  races  can  not  attain  to  the  development 
and  intelligence  of  the  native  whites  in  the  temperate 
zones.  They  are  deficient  in  the  power  of  abstract 
thought,  of  systematization,  of  pursuing  strict  laws  of 
reason,  and  of  uniting  themselves  on  a  basis  of  this  kind. 
The  tropical  races  typify  the  highest  state  of  the  life  of 
feeling.  Natural  life  imprisons  them ;  released  from  this 
by  religion,  they  would  typify  animal  and  vegetable  life 
in  their  transfiguration.  (N.B. — This  idea,  I  believe,  was 
presented  to  Mr.  C.  from  my  magazine.)  They  are  re- 
ceptive of  culture,  and  may,  during  their  subjection  to  a 
more  developed  race,  develop  a  very  respectable  capacity 

X2 


490  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

for  thought  and  artistic  ability.  They  may  arrive  at  a 
respectable  degree  of  semi-civilization,  interesting  by  the 
peculiar  forms  which  it  would  assume  from  the  peculiar- 
ity of  the  people  themselves. 

Mr.  C.  regards  slavery  in  America  as  a  school  for  the 
children  of  Africa,  in  which  they  may  be  educated  for 
self-government  on  the  soil  of  Africa.  He  was  inclined 
to  look  at  the  institution  of  slavery  as  a  benefit  to  them. 
And  that  it  might  be  converted  into  a  benefit  is  certain. 
But  that  it  is  the  only  means  of  imparting  to  Africa  the 
blessings  of  Christianity  and  civilization  may  be  safely 
denied,  and  I  had  here  the  pleasure  of  letting  the  wise 
negro  from  Florida  preach  to  the  wise  white  man. 

In  urbanity  and  grace  of  conversation  Mr.  C.  reminds 
me  of  Waldo  Emerson;  but,  in  a  general  way,  the  South- 
ern gentleman  has  too  small  a  development  of  the  organ 
of  ideality,  even  as  in  the  gentleman  of  the  North  it  is 
too  large.  Mr.  C.  corroborated  the  facility  with  which 
the  negroes  acquire  a  knowledge  of  handcraft  trades,  and 
their  dexterity  as  artisans.  They  have  in  Georgia  begun 
to  employ  them  advantageously  in  manufactures.  I  now 
remember  having  visited,  last  year,  a  cotton  factory  near 
Augusta,  in  which  colored  work-people  were  employed. 
It  was  not  a  sight  which  caused  me  pleasure,  because  I 
could  not  believe  that  the  blacks  would  voluntarily  choose 
this  occupation,  with  its  noise,  difficulty,  and  dusty,  un- 
wholesome atmosphere — they  who  had  been  accustomed 
to  the  labor  of  the  open  fields. 

I  asked  some  women  who  were  employed  in  winding 
how  they  liked  it.  Two  of  them  replied  that  they  liked 
it  very  well — as  well  as  any  other  work.  An  elderly  wom- 
an, however,  with  a  good  countenance,  said,  with  an  ex- 
pression of  deep  dejection  and  weariness,  No,  she  did  not 
like  this  work;  she  would  rather  work  out  in  the  fields. 
I  did  not  wonder  at  this,  for  the  place  was  not  like  one  of 
the  Lowell  Mills. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  49 1 

The  home  here  is  full  of  gay,  youthful  countenances, 
six  boys  and  two  girls,  the  youngest  of  which  is  the  im- 
age and  delight  of  her  father;  and  Mrs.  C.  is  a  youthful, 
pretty,  and  happy  mother  of  this  handsome  flock  of  chil- 
dren. 

Not  far  from  the  house  is  a  troop  of  little  black  chil- 
dren, seventy  or  eighty  in  number,  whom  I  visited  this 
evening,  and  who  wanted  mothers.  A  couple  of  witch- 
like negro  women,  with  rods  in  their  hands,  governed  the 
troop  by  fear  and  terror.  I  had  been  told  that  they  also 
taught  the  children  to  pray.  I  gathered  a  little  flock 
around  me,  and  slowly  repeated  to  them  the  Lord's  Prayer, 
bidding  them  read  the  words  after  me.  The  children 
grinned,  laughed,  showed  their  white  teeth,  and  evinced 
very  plainly  that  none  of  them  knew  what  that  won- 
derful prayer  meant,  nor  that  they  had  a  Father  in 
heaven. 

The  children  were  well  fed.  They  were  kept  here,  sep- 
arated from  their  parents,  on  account  of  fever  raging  on 
the  plantations  where  they  worked. 

If  I  have  not  found  here  the  reformer  whom  I  expect- 
ed, I  have  heard  of  two  such  planters,  the  one  in  Florida, 
the  other  in  Georgia,  who  have  established  schools  for  the 
children  of  their  negro  slaves,  with  the  intention  of  pre- 
paring them  for  good  and  free  human  beings.  One  of 
these  gentlemen,  Mr.  N.,  is  said  to  have  the  greatest  hopes 
of  the  susceptibility  for  cultivation  in  the  negro  children, 
nay,  even  of  its  being  greater  than  in  the  children  of  the 
whites. 

Why  have  I  not  before  heard  of  these  Christian  labors  ? 
I  would  have  made  every  possible  effort  to  have  witnessed 
them,  to  have  seen  them  with  my  own  eyes.  Such  plant- 
ations in  the  slave  states  may  be  regarded  as  holy  spots, 
to  which  pilgrimages  would  be  made  by  those  who  seek 
for  the  soul's  elevation,  and  for  new  power  to  hope  and  to 
believe.     What,  indeed,  have  I  been  so  zealously  seeking 


492  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

for,  and  inquiring  after,  in  these  Southern  States,  hut  for 
such  places ! 

It  is  not  natural  to  me  to  look  out  for  subjects  of  hlame. 
I  do  not  recognize  such  excepting  when  they  force  them- 
selves upon  me.  I  do  not  avoid  seeing  darkness,  hut  I 
seek  for  the  light  which  can  illumine  the  darkness,  in  all, 
and  with  all.  In  the  darkness  of  slavery  I  have  sought 
for  the  moment  of  freedom  with  faith  and  hope  in  the 
genius  of  America.  It  is  no  fault  of  mine  that  I  have 
found  the  darkness  so  great,  and  the  work  of  light  as  yet 
so  feehle  in  the  slave  states. 

Charleston,  June  3d. 

Again  here  in  the  good  home  of  my  good  Mrs.  W.  H.,  a 
home  which  is  at  the  same  time  one  of  the  most  peaceful 
and  the  most  beautiful  which  I  have  found  in  the  United 
States.  It  is  an  excellent  thing  to  rest  here  a  little  while 
after  the  vagaries  of  the  last  three  weeks,  some  of  the  fa- 
tigues of  which  were  by  no  means  small.  But  thus  I 
have  seen  Florida,  and  have  a  better  understanding  of  the 
nature  and  extent  of  that  realm,  that  great  home  which 
is  being  prepared,  in  North  America,  for  people  of  the 
whole  world.  From  the  home  of  eternal  summer  I  now 
journey  up  toward  the  home  of  winter,  the  White  Mount- 
ains, in  the  most  northern  states  of  New  England,  and 
thence  home,  because  I  shall  then  have  seen  all  that  I  de- 
sire to  see  on  this  side  the  ocean. 

Among  the  memorable  events  of  the  latter  part  of  our 
journey,  I  must  not  omit  our  morning  journey  in  large 
boats  of  hollowed  cypress-trees  from  Ortega  plantation  to 
Jacksonville,  where  we  took  the  steamer.  The  morning 
was  glorious,  and  the  negroes  rowed  vigorously  and  cheer- 
fully. The  gentlemen  of  the  amiable  family  at  Ortega 
accompanied  us.  on  board.  They  were  of  the  good  and 
the  quiet  of  the  land. 

I  parted  from  Mr.  (J.  with  sincere  gratitude  for  his  in- 
teresting society,  and  with  a  decided  liking  for  one  of  the 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  493 

young  sons  of  the  plantation,  whose  broad  forehead  re- 
vealed a  thoughtful,  unprejudiced,  and  humorous  turn  of 
mind. 

The  place  at  which  we  were  to  take  the  steamer  to  Sa- 
vannah was  where  the  early  city  of  Frederica  had  been 
founded  by  Oglethorpe,  the  first  cultivator  of  Georgia. 
The  situation  appears  to  have  been  excellent,  but  of  the 
city  there  now  remains  only  two  ruins,  garlanded  by  green 
trees  and  bushes. 

We  arrived  here  in  good  time,  but  the  steamer  did  not 
make  its  appearance  for  several  hours.  In  the  mean  time 
it  went  on  with  us  in  a  fairy  tale.  A  most  charming  lit- 
tle old  lady,  just  like  a  good  little  fairy,  received  us  into 
her  house,  a  regular  little  fairy  palace  for  beauty,  com- 
fort, and  attractiveness.  Every  thing  was  bright,  and 
seemed  to  be  alive  from  sheer  cleanliness  and  care.  The 
little  lady — old  in  years,  but  full  of  youthfulness  of  mind, 
and  with  a  pair  of  clear,  lively  blue  eyes — gave  me,  as 
she  made  a  playful  demonstration  round  my  head,  a 
knock  on  my  forehead,  which  might  have  cracked  the 
skull  if  it  had  been  less  thick.  She  spread  a  table  for 
us,  brilliant  with  white  linen,  and  china,  and  silver,  and 
entertained  us  with  tea  and  bread  and  butter,  potatoes  at 
my  desire,  eggs,  and  other  good  things.  No,  it  would  not 
have  been  possible  for  a  meal  spread  by  fairy  hands  to 
have  been  more  delicate  or  more  finely  flavored.  The 
clever  and  cheerful  little  lady  and  I  drank  together  a 
toast,  "Friendship  and  potatoes,"  as  the  chief  indispensa- 
bles  of  earthly  happiness.  After  this  we  proceeded  to  Sa- 
vannah. 

I  saw  in  Savannah,  besides  good  old  friends — always 
good  and  kind — a  Seaman's  Home,  under  the  management 
of  the  ladies  of  the  city.  It  was  a  simple,  but  well-order- 
ed and  successful  institution,  where  the  sailors,  while  in 
port  at  Savannah,  may  obtain  at  the  lowest  possible  charges 
the  best  possible  comforts  in  a  large  common  hall,  both 


494  HOMES  OF  THE  .NEW  WORLD. 

food  for  the  body  and  food  for  the  soul — this  latter  con- 
sisting of  good  books  and  small  tracts,  containing  treatises 
and  narratives  of  a  religious  tendency.  The  lively,  agree- 
able lady  who  conducted  me  thither — Mrs.  B.,  the  daugh- 
ter of  Judge  Berrian — is  one  of  the  directresses,  and,  al- 
though a  happy  wife  as  well  as  mother  of  six  boys  and  one 
girl,  she  finds  time  and  heart  to  look  after  this  home  for 
the  sons  of  Neptune,  otherwise  left  to  winds  and  waves 
more  dangerous  to  them  in  the  city  than  those  out  at  sea. 
"Wife,  mother,  citizen,  are  the  titles  of  the  woman  of  the 
New  World. 

In  the  evening  at  the  hotel,  Pulaski  House,  where  I  took 
up  my  quarters  during  the  short  time  of  my  stay,  that  I 
might  not  be  separated  from  Mrs.  "W.  H.,  I  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  a  young  lady,  a  planter,  now  come  to  the 
city  with  a  family  of  seven  boys,  all  in  succession,  with 
but  one,  or,  at  the  most,  two  years  between  them.  Both 
mother  and  children  were  full  of  the  fresh  spirit  of  life, 
the  gay  young  mother's  only  anxiety  being  to  keep  the 
merry  lads  from  running  about  in  the  city,  as  they  were 
accustomed  to  do  in  the  country.  They  were  going  to  be 
placed  in  a  school  here. 

Families  in  North  America  are  very  large,  although  not 
so  large  as  in  England.  The  largest  family  I  heard  spoken 
of  here  was  twelve  children  by  one  father  and  mother, 
but  this  was  considered  unusual ;  seven  seems  to  be,  in  a 
general  way,  the  largest  number  of  children  in  a  family. 
Nor  is  it  unusual  to  meet  with  married  pairs  without  chil- 
dren at  all. 

But  I  must  now  tell  you  something  about  South  Caro- 
lina, because  South  Carolina  is  resolved  at  this  moment  to 
be  a  state  for  itself,  apart  from  the  other  states.  It  is,  in 
fact,  extremely  incensed  by  the  injustice  which  it  consid- 
ers that  the  Southern  States  suffered  in  the  last  Congress 
from  the  compromise  between  the  free  and  the  slave  states 
on  the  Californian  question ;  and  a  large  Convention  of  the 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  495 

wise  men  of  the  state  has  just  been  held  at  Charleston,  at 
which,  after  having  eaten  and  drunk  together,  they  with 
great  enthusiasm  took  the  heroic  resolution  of  seceding 
from  the  Union,  and  assuming  a  hostile  attitude  against 
its  Northern  States.  The  Palmetto  State  seems  to  have 
calculated  on  meeting  with  co-operation  from  the  other 
Southern  States  ;  but  it  appears  that  she  is  mistaken  in 
this  respect.  Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Louisiana,  and  sev- 
eral others,  have  openly  declared  themselves  for  the  Union, 
and  I  have  read  in  the  Florida  papers  keen  disapprobation 
of  the  proceedings  of  the  Palmetto  State.  Mississippi  is 
now  the  only  one  which  seems  to  stand  undetermined 
whether  or  not  it  shall  declare  itself  for  the  Union,  or 
against  it  and  for  South  Carolina. 

In  the  mean  time,  it  seems  as  if  South  Carolina  itself, 
like  the  great  Emperor  Philip  of  ancient  memory,.is  of  a 
different  state  of  mind  during  the  feast  and  after  the  feast, 
and  that  the  good  brothers  who  ate  and  drank  together 
at  Charleston,  and  there  declared  themselves  for  war,  were, 
notwithstanding,  much  less  inclined  for  hostilities  when 
they  had  left  Charleston  and  found  themselves  each  one 
sitting  quietly  at  home.  Nor  are  there  wanting  wise  and 
good  citizens  who  openly  declare  themselves  opposed  to 
the  heroic  declarations  of  the  great  Convention,  over  which 
people  now  make  themselves  merry.  ,  In  one  of  the  news- 
papers of  the  city  I  read  to-day  the  following  quotation  from 
a  speech  which  is  said  to  have  been  made  by  one  of  the 
warlike  members  of  the  great  Convention : 

"  Yes,  gentlemen,  I  protest  that,  when  war  breaks  out, 
I  shall  be  one  of  the  first  to  run  across  my  cotton  field, 
exclaiming,  like  General  Washington  at  the  battle  of  Wa- 
terloo, '  A  horse!  a  horse!  my  kingdom  for  a  horse!'  " 

From  the  observations  which  I  have  heard  made,  and 
which  I  have  read  in  the  newspapers  on  this  Convention 
and  its  consequences,  one  sees  how  vigorous  and  discreet 
is  public  opinion,  and  that  it  merely  requires  time. 


496  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 


And  probably  this  declaration  of  secession  on  the  part 
of  South  Carolina  will  merely  be  a  proof  of  the  internal 
strength  of  the  Union  to  hold  together,  spite  of  the  dis- 
pleasure of  individuals. 

Mr.  Poinsett's  letter  to  the  Convention  (to  which  he 
was  summoned,  but  could  not  attend)  is  spoken  highly  of, 
as  being  distinguished  in  a  high  degree  for  its  nobility 
and  statesmanlike  wisdom.  It  counsels  strongly  to  main- 
tain the  Union,  and  proves  that  South  Carolina  is  wrong 
in  her  assertions. 

I  have  received,  also,  a  private  letter  from  the  noble  old 
statesman,  which  has  pleased  me  by  the  invitation  which 
it  contained  for  me  again  to  visit  him  at  his  house,  "  that 
we  might  talk  over  together  the  present  condition  and  fu- 
ture prospects  of  the  United  States."  I  should  very  much 
like  such  a  conversation  with  him,  but  I  have  not  the 
time  to  go  as  far  as  his  hermitage. 

Among  the  topics  of  conversation  of  the  day  is  a  scan- 
dalous paper  war,  which  is  being  carried  on  in  the  New 
York  newspapers  between  private  individuals.  One  of 
the  principal  literary  men  of  the  city  is  involved  in  the 
contest,  which  has  reference  to  the  good  name  and  fame 
of  two  respectable  ladies.  The  warfare  is  carried  on  with 
great  bitterness  and  unbridled  license,  and  the  good  and 
thinking  portion  of  the  public  look  on  with  annoyance 
and  disgust,  and  also  censure  severely  that  inclination  for 
coarse  personality  which  is  one  of  the  greatest  sins  of  the 
American  newspaper  press.  Generally,  however,  even  this 
spares  women,  who  always  find  powerful  defenders.  A 
man  who  in  conversation  or  through  the  press  should  al- 
low himself  to  attack  a  woman,  or  to  express  himself 
coarsely  against  her,  would  be  condemned  by  the  better 
portion  of  the  people  as  a  man  of  bad  education  and  bad 
taste.  A  silent  reprobation  would  exclude  him  from  the 
better  class  of  society.  Thus  noble  and  chivalric  is  the 
spirit  of  this  country. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  497 

I  shall  now  remain  quietly  here  for  about  a  week,  part- 
ly because  I  find  myself  so  comfortable  here,  and  that  I 
require  rest,  and  partly  to  have  my  toilet  refitted,  under 
the  advice  and  management  of  my  good  Mrs.  W.  H.  I 
think  more  on  this  subject  here  than  I  did  at  home,  be- 
cause I  must  here  appear  as  a  Swede.  I  wish  to  do  so 
with  honor  to  my  country,  although  with  all  becoming 
modesty.  My  costume,  therefore,  is  always  black  silk, 
with  a  mantilla  or  light  jacket,  also  of  silk,  trimmed  with 
lace.  You  must  fancy  me  when  walking  out  in  a  white 
silk  bonnet  and  veil,  and  black  satin  cloak  or  dress.  I 
endeavor  to  combine  gravity  with  a  certain  degree  of  ele- 
gance. 

From  this  place  I  propose  proceeding  through  the  high- 
lands of  North  Carolina  and  Georgia,  the  remarkable 
scenery  of  which  I  wish  to  become  acquainted  with,  into 
the  State  of  Tennessee,  by  the  Tennessee  River,  and  so 
into  Virginia,  the  Old  Dominion,  where  I  think  of  remain- 
ing some  time,  to  make  myself  familiar  both  with  the  peo- 
ple and  the  scenery.  It  is  now  terribly  hot  here,  and  one 
is  as  if  in  a  constant  bath.  I  ought  to  write  many  letters, 
and  read  various  things ;  but,  instead  of  doing  so,  I  spend 
long  hours  in  doing  nothing  but  sitting  in  my  rocking- 
chair  and  rocking  to  and  fro. 

"  It  is  all  very  well  as  yet,"  says  Mrs.  "W.  H. ;  "  but 
when  this  heat  shall  have  continued  four  or  five  months, 
and  seems  as  if  it  never  would  come  to  an  end,  then — " 

No  wonder  that  so  many  young  ladies  here  seem  pale 
and  languishing. 

Vegetation  is  in  its  highest  glory,  and  the  woods  are 
splendidly  in  flower.  The  Indian-pride-tree,  the  French- 
tree,  the  tulip-tree,  the  magnolia,  shoot  forth  their  splen- 
did fragrant  flowers.  In  the  gardens  roses  and  orange- 
blossom  fill  the  air  with  perfume  ;  the  fruit  of  the  nectar- 
ine is  set,  and  the  fig-tree  bears  ripe  fruit.  People  enjoy 
themselves,  but  with  a  languid  animation.     The  evenings 


498  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

are  the  most  beautiful  part  of  the  day,  and  my  greatest 
enjoyment  is  to  walk  slowly  backward  and  forward  on  the 
upper  piazza,  shaded  by  the  trellised  roses,  and  fanned  by 
breezes  from  the  river. 

June  11th.  In  the  morning  I  shall  leave  this  good  home 
and  this  amiable  family  forever.?  It  is  painful  to  me  to 
say  so,  but  so  it  is.  I  have  spent  delightful  hours  and 
days  this  time  also  with  them  and  with  some  other  friends 
in  Charleston.  I  have  again  infinitely  enjoyed  the  socie- 
ty of  Mrs.  H.,  wandering  with  her  in  the  myrtle-groves  at 
Belmont  for  one  whole  beautiful  day,  and  in  conversation 
on  subjects  which  deepen  and  expand  life  at  the  same 
time.  Mrs.  H.  has  more  imagination  than  I  have,  and 
her  poetical  feeling,  united  to  an  intellect  of  no  ordinary 
grasp,  which,  taking  its  stand  on  the  earth,  comprehends 
the  universal  relationship  of  all  things,  and  which,  at  the 
same  time,  derives  its  aliment  from  a  religious  centre  based 
on  Christianity,  makes  my  intercouse  with  her  highly  en- 
livening and  beneficial. 

I  have  received  from  many  kind  friends  renewed  proofs 
of  their  steadfast  warm-heartedness,  and  from  the  noble 
Unitarian  minister,  Mr.  Grilman,  a  blessing  which  I  have 
placed  within  my  heart.  When  I  was  one  day  making  a 
sketch  of  his  pure,  ascetic  countenance,  I  asked  him,  "At 
what  age  have  you  felt  yourself  most  happy  ?" 

"  Between  fifty  and  sixty,"  replied  he. 

I  heard  his  reply  with  joy,  because  I  am  approaching 
that  age,  and  I  have  hope  in  its  tranquillizing  power. 

The  young  missionary.  Miles,  whose  name  and  book 
you  may  remember  as  mentioned  in  my  letter  from  this 
place  last  year,  has  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving  some 
lines  from  the  noble  Neander  in  Berlin,  containing  these 
words :  "  The  aged  Neander  extends  his  hand  across  the 
ocean,  in  brotherly  union,  to  the  young  missionary  in 
South  Carolina,  and  in  token  of  cordial  acknowledgment." 
Such  tokens  are  joyful  signs  of  the  times  ! 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  499 

Among  the  remarkable  things  which  I  have  seen  of 
late,  I  must  mention  the  Slaves'  Fair  last  Saturday  even- 
ing, that  is  to  say,  when  the  slaves  resident  on  the  plant- 
ations come  to  Charleston  with  their  wares  and  small 
manufactured  goods,  woven  baskets,  mats,  etc.,  and  set 
them  out  publicly,  cry  them  aloud,  and  sell  them :  the 
scene  is  lively,  but  it  lasts  only  an  evening ;  a  visit  which 
I  made  to  two  negro  schools  ;  the  large,  newly-laid-out 
cemetery  of  Charleston,  the  Magnolia,  and  a  night  on 
Sullivan's  Island. 

One  of  these  negro  schools  was  for  the  children  of  free 
negroes.  It  was  kept  by  a  white  master,  and  with  open 
doors.  I  saw  here  an  assembly  of  colored  children,  of  all 
shades  between  raven-black  and  almost  perfect  white. 
The  school-books,  which  I  desired  to  see,  were  the  same 
as  those  in  use  in  the  American  schools  for  the  children 
of  the  whites. 

This  school  is  a  good  institution,  but  evidently  a  dan- 
gerous element  in  the  slave  states,  unless  it  is  kept  in 
harmony  by  the  instruction  of  the  slaves,  and  the  views 
which  this  will  open  to  them. 

I  had  also  heard  speak  of  secret  schools  for  the  children 
of  slaves,  but  had  extreme  difficulty  in  discovering  such 
an  one,  and  when  I  had  discovered  one,  to  gain  admittance 
into  it,  so  great  was  the  dread  of  the  law's  severity,  which 
forbids,  under  a  heavy  punishment,  the  instruction  of  a 
slave  in  reading  and  writing.  And  when  I  did  gain  ad- 
mittance into  this  secret  chamber,  I  found  in  a  wretched 
dark  hole  only  half  a  dozen  poor  children,  some  with  an 
aspect  that  testified  the  greatest  stupidity  and  mere  ani- 
mal life.  They  had  evidently  been  brought  hither  as  an 
attempt  to  humanize  them. 

Magnolia  Cemetery  is  a  new,  noble,  and  magnificent 
burial-place,  and  an  honor  to  Charleston.  It  is  situated 
by  the  sea,  the  pure,  refreshing  breezes  of  which  blow 
over  it  with  invigorating  life.     Three  sides  have  a  back- 


500  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

ground  of  magnolia  and  cedar  forest,  and  on  the  fourth 
lies  the  blue  sea.  The  ground  is  flat,  but  not  swampy, 
and  canals  have  been  dug  to  bring  in  the  river  and  sea- 
water,  so  as  to  form  small  islands  and  promontories  with- 
in the  vast  burial-ground.  Beautiful  groups  of  Southern 
trees  stand  here  and  there.  The  manner  in  which  the 
people  of  America  provide  resting-places  for  their  dead 
foretells  for  them  a  long  life  on  earth. 

I  saw  in  this  new  burial-place  only  two  monuments, 
but  they  had  each  of  them  so  peculiar  and  so  dissimilar 
a  history  that  I  must  relate  them  to  you  in  few  words. 

The  one  marks  the  grave  of  a  young  girl.  She  was 
her  mother's  only  child.  It  one  day  happened  that  she 
touched  her  eye  with  her  hand  after  having  just  gathered 
the  poisonous  flower  called  here  Nightshade  ( Solanun  ni- 
grum), which  has  a  pretty,  pale  yellow  flower,  in  form 
like  that  of  our  potato  blossom,  and  the  eye  became  there- 
by poisoned.  It  became  enlarged  and  deformed ;  and  this 
enlargement,  and  the  suffering  which  attended  it,  under- 
mined the  young  girl's  life.  She  withered  away,  but 
beautifully  and  piously.  Her  sufferings  and  her  patience 
made  her  an  object  of  general  love.  She  and  her  mother 
converted  the  path  to  the  grave,  by  the  strength  of  relig- 
ion, into  a  pathway  of  light;  the  Nightshade  had  no 
power  over  them.  After  two  years  of  suffering,  she  died 
— if  a  good  angel  can  die ;  and  her  grave  is  surrounded 
by  memories  of  light. 

The  second  belongs  to  the  grave  of  a  young  man.  He 
was  an  officer  in  the  American  army  during  the  war  in 
Texas  or  Mexico,  I  do  not  exactly  remember  which.  One 
day,  as  he  sat  at  the  table  with  a  comrade,  he  received 
an  order  to  go  to  the  commanding  officer.  In  youthful 
insolence  or  pride,  he  said,  "The  deuce  take  me  if  I  go!" 
or  something  of  that  kind.  Nevertheless,  he  went.  The 
thoughtless  expression,  which  had  been  overheard,  was  re- 
ported to  the  superior  officer,  who  commanded  that,  as  a 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  501 

punishment,  and  for  example's  sake,  he  should  be  gagged 
for  one  or  more  days,  I  know  not  which.  When  the  sen- 
tence was  announced  to  the  young  man,  he  said,  "From 
this  time  I  will  never  eat  any  thing  more.  Nobody  shall 
ever  reproach  me  with  having  been  gagged !" 

And  he  refused  to  take  food.  The  superior  officer,  in- 
formed of  his  words  and  his  conduct  on  arrest,  repented  of 
his  barbarous  and  hasty  command,  and  went  himself  to 
the  young  man  to  induce  him  to  give  up  his  resolve.  But 
in  vain.  The  young,  determined  soldier  died  of  a  wound- 
ed heart,  and  of  hunger,  within  a  week,  to  the  inexpressi- 
bly bitter  grief  of  his  family,  who  were  withheld  from  pros- 
ecuting at  law  the  inconsiderate  commander  merely  by 
the  mother  of  the  dead,  to  whom  the  family  of  the  other 
were  nearly  related,  and  by  her  saying,  with  truth, 

"Revenge  can  not  restore  to  me  my  son!" 

Great  sufferings  have  already  consecrated  Magnolia 
Cemetery  as  a  resting-place. 

Mrs,  W.  H.  and  myself  made  the  journey  to  Sullivan's 
Island  alone.  It  was  pleasant  to  me  to  make  this  last 
excursion  in  South  Carolina  alone  with  her,  and  with  her 
for  the  last  time  to  feel  the  sea-breezes  in  the  palmetto 
and  myrtle  groves  of  the  island.  A  steam-boat  conveyed 
us  thither,  and  here  we  took  a  carriage  to  drive  along  the 
sands.  Our  driver  was  a  Yankee  of  fifteen,  good-natured 
and  lively,  who  had  come  from  Boston  to  Charleston  to 
seek  his  fortune.  The  boy  had  gone  to  a  common  school, 
and  was  remarkably  clever  in  his  remarks  and  replies. 
We  confided  ourselves  to  his  guidance,  and,  deeply  en- 
grossed in  conversation,  it  was  not  until  after  half  an 
hour's  time  that  we  observed  that,  instead  of  driving  us 
on  the  firm  sands,  he  was  driving  us  quite  into  the  wa- 
ter, and  going  in  deeper  and  deeper.  We  called  to  the  boy ; 
he  seemed  to  ponder  about  it,  but  said  we  should  soon  be 
right,  and  thus  we  drove  on  again  for  a  while.  The  wa- 
ter, however,  by  this  time  was  above  half  way  up  the 


502  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

wheels,  and  we  were  among  deep  holes ;  it  was  clear  that 
we  were  not  in  the  right  road ;  and  when  we  again  spoke 
to  our  young  driver,  it  appeared  that,  instead  of  driving 
on  the  usual  and  southern  side  of  the  island,  he  had  driv- 
en on  the  northern  shore,  because  he  wished  to  ascertain 
whether  it  was  possible  to  drive  also  on  that  side.  He 
had  chosen  this  occasion  for  the  experiment. 

Mrs.  W.  H.  laughed  so  heartily  at  the  idea  of  the  lad's 
scheme  of  trying  an  experiment  with  us  which  might 
have  cost  us  our  lives,  that  her  anger  lost  its  power.  The 
boy  was  a  little  frightened,  but  smiled  nevertheless,  and 
would  willingly  have  continued  his  experiment  to  the 
end ;  but  this  we  utterly  forbade,  as  we  none  of  us  knew 
what  ground  we  were  upon,  and  each  fresh  step  might  be 
our  last.  We  alighted,  therefore,  among  the  bushes  of 
the  shore,  and  left  the  boy  to  find  his  way  across  the  isl- 
and with  the  carriage  and  horses  in  the  best  way  he  was 
able. 

We  found  our  way  through  bushes  and  thickets,  Mrs. 
W.  H.  laughing  the  whole  way  with  incomparable  good 
temper  at  the  Yankee  boy's  characteristic  scheme.  After 
an  hour's  wandering,  forcing  our  way  through  thick  brush- 
wood, and  wading  through  sand,  we  found  a  foot-path  and 
traces  of  a  fence.  From  this  point  we  looked  around  us, 
and  saw,  to  our  surprise,  a  carriage  and  horses  standing 
on  the  top  of  the  highest  sand-hill  in  this  part  of  the  isl- 
and. Was  it?  Yes,  certainly  it  was  our  equipage,  which 
had  ascended  this  hill  from  the  water,  and  there  on  the 
box  sat  quite  tranquilly  the  Yankee  boy,  looking  around 
him,  and  spying  out  the  geography  of  the  island. 

When,  in  the  course  of  about  two  hours,  we  had  at 
length  piloted  ourselves  to  the  southern  side  of  the  island, 
and  down  to  the  fortress,  there  we  found  our  Yankee  boy 
and  his  carriage  waiting  for  us  as  tranquil  and  good-tem- 
pered as  if  every  thing  had  gone  on  in  the  best  manner 
possible. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.    •      503 

"We  did  not  think  that  it  had,  and  still  less  so  when  we 
saw,  before  we  could  reach  the  shore,  the  last  steam-boat 
leave  the  island  for  the  city.  We  should  be  obliged  to  re- 
main over  night  in  the  island.  But  we  found  a  good  ho- 
tel, and  we  had  the  sea  and  the  beautiful  moonlight,  and 
thus  that  night  on  Sullivan's  Island,  a  great  portion  of 
which  was  spent  awake,  remains  as  one  of  the  delight- 
fully memorable  nights  which  I  spent  beneath  the  heav- 
en of  South  Carolina. 

To-day,  as  we  were  driving  out  of  the  city  in  a  car- 
riage, I  saw  a  man  taking  along  a  young  negro  lad,  with 
his  hands  tied  with  a  rope.  The  man  was  on  horseback, 
and  the  lad,  he  might  be  about  fourteen  or  fifteen,  walked 
behind  the  horse.  He  had  probably  attempted  to  run 
away,  and  was  now  brought  in  this  manner  to  the  city  to 
be  flogged.  The  people  looked  with  indifference,  as  on  a 
very  common  sight.     Beautiful  manners! 

On  one  of  my  walks  in  the  city  with  my  good  Mrs.  W. 
H.,  we  saw  an  old,  well-dressed  negro  sitting  on  a  stone, 
bleeding  at  the  nose.     She  stopped. 

"Are  you  bleeding,  daddy?"  asked  she. 

•Yes,  Missis,  yes,"  replied  he,  very  civilly;  "it  will 
not  stop." 

"  You  shall  have  my  keys,  daddy,  to  lay  on  your  neck, 
and  then  it  will  stop,"  said  Mrs.  W.  H.,  taking  out  her 
bunch  of  keys,  and  placing  it  on  the  neck  of  black  daddy, 
and  waiting  a  while  until  it  had  produced  the  desired 
effect.  Daddy  thanked  her  heartily,  but  not  as  if  for  any 
unusual  mark  of  kindness.  Neither  is  such  behavior  or 
such  kindness  shown  by  the  whites  to  the  blacks  unusual 
either  in  the  slave  states.  But  the  institution  of  slavery 
causes  the  good  and  the  bad  master  to  be  placed  under 
the  ban  of  one  hatred ;  and  yet  they  are  as  unlike  as  day 
and  night. 

My  proposed  journey  through  the  northern  parts  of 
Georgia  and  Tennessee,  like  that  of  last  year,  must  be 


504  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

wholly  given  up.  The  heat  is  oppressive  ;  Tennessee 
River  is  dried  up,  so  that  it  is  not  navigable  for  a  steam- 
er ;  and  there  is  no  other  mode  of  conveyance  for  me, 
while  the  fatigue  of  diligences  upon  those  wretched  roads 
would  be  greater  than  I  could  support.  I  shall,  therefore, 
also  this  time  confide  myself  to  the  sea,  but  merely  for 
four-and-twenty  hours,  land  in  North  Carolina,  and  pro- 
ceed through  that  state  to  Virginia.  I  shall  probably  take 
the  same  steamer  northward  as  Mr.  and  Mrs.  H. 

I  am  perfectly  well,  my  little  heart,  and  my  friends  in 
Savannah  and  Charleston  flatter  me  with  the  assurance 
that  I  am  grown  younger  in  appearance — that  I  am  won- 
derfully improved,  and  ascribe  the  change  to  the  American 
climate  (the  worst  climate  under  the  sun  for  the  renova- 
ting process).  But  I  know  better,  and  commend  Cuba, 
and  the  good  homes  both  here  and  there,  before  every 
thing  else.  Blessings  be  upon  them !  But  I  have  nev- 
ertheless become  old  in  exterior,  t'hat  I  see  and  feel,  and 
must  prepare  you  for.  The  exertion  of  traveling,  and  the 
climate  of  the  West,  have  left  visible  traces  on  me.  I 
might  tell  you  of  something,  however,  which  is  renewed, 
in  me,  but  I  dare  not  now. 


LETTER  XXXIX. 

Richmond,  June  16th. 
Gtood  -  morning,  my  beloved  child,  on  this  beautiful 
morning  in  the  chief  city  of  Virginia.  I  have  just  re- 
turned from  a  ramble  in  the  park  round  the  capital,  from 
which  I  have  seen  the  beautiful  River  St.  James,  in  the 
Indian  tongue  Powkaton,  with  its  foaming  fall,  and  its 
calm  water,  bright  as  silver,  winding  on  their  way  through 
verdant  plains,  and  hills  far,  far  away  into  the  country. 
A  glorious  view  from  this  magnificent  capital.  I  wished 
that  the  intellectual  and  moral  view  from  the  States' 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  505 

seat  of  government  corresponded  with  it.  But  Virginia 
is  a  slave  state,  and  its  views  open,  and  its  river  of  life 
flows,  as  in  all  other  slave  states,  for  one  half  of  its  popu- 
lation only.  We  are  reminded  of  this  the  moment  we 
reach  the  gate  of  the  park  of  the  capital,  for  on  the  pillars 
of  the  gate  is  placed  the  announcement  in  large  letters, 
declaring  that  any  slave  who  ventures  within  these  gates 
shall  be  liable  to  a  punishment  of  thirty-nine  lashes! 
One  can  not  enjoy  or  admire  any  thing  in  the  slave  states 
without  having  one's  pleasure  disturbed  by  these  lashes ! 

But  in  a  material  respect,  how  well  watered  is  North 
America  !  Throughout  all  its  states  flow  these  beautiful 
navigable  rivers,  which,  like  great  arteries,  receive  into 
themselves  innumerable  lesser  streams  and  brooks,  and 
convey  to  all  places  the  life  and  the  fruits  of  civilization ! 
I  can  not  contemplate  these  beautiful  rivers  without  the 
hope  that  they  will  prepare  the  way  for  the  noblest  of  all. 

I  parted  from  my  kind  Mrs.  W.  H.,  who  had  become 
as  dear  to  me  as  a  sister,  and  from  her  family,  with  a 
pang  which  I  endeavored  to  stifle,  because  parting  is  in- 
evitable. 

It  was  in  the  afternoon  of  the  12th  of  June  that  I  left 
Charleston  and  South  Carolina,  where  I  had  enjoyed  so 
much  kindness.  The  sea  was  rough,  and  the  vessel  so 
crowded  with  passengers  that  I  regretted  in  silence  that 
my  wish  to  be  with  Mrs.  H.  had  caused  me  to  select  this 
vessel,  and  not  rather  to  have  delayed  my  journey  a  couple 
of  days  longer.  I  feared  now  to  incommode  others,  and 
to  be  incommoded  myself.  But  Mrs.  H.  became  my  com- 
fort and  my  help.  As  she  was  acquainted  with  the  negro 
woman  who  waited  in  the  ladies'  saloon,  she  induced  the 
old  woman  to  make  us  up  two  beds  on  the  soft  sofas 
near  the  window,  because  all  the  cabins  in  the  vessel 
were  occupied,  and  by  this  means  we  escaped  the  heat  of 
the  cabins,  and  enjoyed  during  the  night  fresh  air  from 
the  saloon  window. 

Vol.  II— Y 


506  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

As  night  approached,  the  sea  became  rougher,  and  th* 
clouds  assumed  a  more  stormy  aspect ;  the  air  was  op 
pressively  hot,  the  passage  was  one  of  danger,  and  th<? 
vessel  had  not  the  best  reputation. 

But  I  consoled  myself  with  thinking,  "  when  the  moon 
rises  !"  for  I  have  an  inborn  faith  in  the  moon  as  my 
friend.  She  attracted  my  glance  to  her  when  I  was  but 
a  child,  and  before  I  could  say  any  other  word,  before  I 
could  say  father  or  mother,  I  said  "  Moon !"  My  first 
verses  were  dedicated  to  the  Moon.  They  were  poor 
enough ;  but  the  celestial  presence  which  I  saluted  as  the 
consoler  of  the  fortunate  and  the  unfortunate,  has  been, 
in  her  turn,  equally  propitious  to  me,  and  never  yet,  dur- 
ing my  sea  voyages,  has  she  failed  with  her  rising  to  dis- 
sipate the  clouds,  and  to  calm  the  restless  winds  and 
waves.  I  have  always,  therefore,  endeavored  to  arrange 
my  voyages  that  they  should  be  during  moonlight  nights, 
and  I  had  accordingly  so  arranged  my  present  voyage,  for 
the  pleasure  of  which  I  had  to  thank  both  Mrs.  H.  and  the 
moon.     Neither  of  them  deceived  me. 

Mrs.  H.  was  somewhat  sea-sick,  but  was  still,  amid  the 
throng  of  the  steam-boat,  the  same  amiable,  perfect  lady 
as  in  the  drawing-room  and  the  myrtle-groves  of  Bel- 
mont; and  the  moon  was,  as  soon  as  she  arose  on  the  sea, 
the  same  amiable  planet  as  she  had  formerly  shown  her- 
self to  me.  The  clouds,  it  is  true,  did  not  vanish,  but 
they  stood,  as  it  were,  still,  or  withdrew  in  picturesque 
groups.  The  waves,  it  is  true,  still  heaved,  but  not  tem- 
pestuously ;  it  lightened  incessantly  and  splendidly  amid 
the  clouds,  but  there  was  no  thunder.  It  was  as  if  the 
severe  countenance  of  the  moon  had  stayed  the  tumult 
of  the  elements.  I  gazed  at  the  moon,  and  enjoyed  that 
grand,  excited,  but  not  stormy  life  in  the  heavens  and  on 
the  sea  amid  the  shadows  of  night. 

The  following  day  we  went  on  shore,  and  proceeded  by 
rail-road  through  North  Carolina,  which  seemed  to  be  one 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  507 

continued  stretch  of  pine  wood,  with  some  open  spaces 
for  the  cultivation  of  cotton  and  maize,  a  flat,  uniform, 
and  poor  country,  except  as  regards  the  sap  of  the  pine 
forests,  whence  the  state  derives  its  popular  name,  "  Old 
Tar  and  Turpentine."  The  northwestern  portions  of  the 
state  are  hilly,  and  are  possessed  of  much  natural  beauty. 
Mrs.  H.  told  me  that  "  Old  Tar  and  Turpentine"  was  not 
renowned  for  any  thing  excepting  for  its  politeness  and 
simple  manners.  "When  other  states  in  the  Union  refused 
to  pay  the  debt  to  England  which  they  had  agreed  to  pay 
together  (some  loan  affair,  which  was  unsuccessful),  "  Old 
Tar  and  Turpentine"  set  them  an  example  of  punctuality 
and  integrity,  and  paid  its  quota  of  the  debt  without  any 
ado.  North  Carolina  has  been,  although  a  slave  state, 
one  of  the  principal  abodes  of  the  Quaker  sect  in  Amer- 
ica, and  has  always  been  celebrated  for  its  patriarchal  life 
and  manners. 

Two  places  at  which  we  stopped  by  the  way  were  in 
the  pine  forest,  and  this  was,  as  is  usual  in  the  Southern 
States,  rich  in  many  varieties  of  trees.  I  counted  above 
fourteen  in  one  of  the  forest  woods. 

Mrs.  H.  was  to  me  on  this  journey,  as  she  always  is,  a 
fountain  of  refreshment  and  delight.  I  have  never  met 
with  any  one,  either  man  or  woman,  who  possessed  in  so 
high  a  degree  the  power  of  calling  others  out  in  conver- 
sation. We  accompany  each  other  like  two  birds  flying 
up  and  down,  between  heaven  and  earth,  from  star  to 
star,  from  land  to  land,  from  tree  to  tree',  from  flower  to 
flower.  I  learn  much  from  her.  She  spends  with  her 
husband,  the  esteemed  naturalist,  Holbrook,  her  sister, 
Miss  L.,  and  her  handsome  old  mother,  a  beautiful  life, 
rich  in  domestic  affection. 

Toward  the  evening  of  this  day  we  reached  the  little 
village  of  Weldon,  on  the  boundaries  between  North  Car- 
olina and  Virginia,  and  where  the  wild,  foaming  River 
Roanoke  rolls  along  its  waves,  dividing  the  two  states. 


508  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

I  went  down  to  the  falls  in  the  evening  twilight,  and 
saw  them  foaming  and  rushing  along.  The  fire-flies 
danced  glimmering  under  the  gloomy  arch  of  the  trees. 
Nature  was  here  romantic,  wild,  and  beautiful,  and  tlje 
whole  district  was  as  desolate  and  silent  as  if  no  human 
beings  were  to  be  found  there. 

We  passed  a  comfortable  night  at  the  hotel,  and  al- 
though I  was  suffering  from  headache,  yet,  to  my  joy,  I 
was  well  enough  to  proceed  on  my  journey  the  next  day 
by  a  slow  accommodation  rail-way  train,  which  conveyed 
us  very  easily  and  excellently  through  the  fields  of  Vir- 
ginia to  Richmond,  the  capital  of  the  state,  and  which 
contains  thirty  thousand  inhabitants,  half  of  whom  are 
blacks.  Its  situation  is  romantic,  among  hills  and  val- 
leys, on  the  banks  of  the  River  St.  James.  And  there  am 
I  now.  I  was  obliged  to  take  leave  of  my  traveling  com- 
panions last  evening,  as  they  continued  their  journey  ear- 
ly this  morning  to  Saratoga,  whither  they  are  going  for 
the  benefit  of  the  water  and  the  baths.  Later  in  the  sum- 
mer I  also  intend  to  go  thither  myself,  not  to  drink  the 
medicinal  waters,  but  to  witness  that  scene  of  American 
social  life  which  I  am  informed  presents  there  its  worst 
side — fashionable  immorality  and  want  of  principle  in 
their  gala  dress. 

Later.  Usch !  such  a  sermon !  Just  the  sermon,  if  such 
were  the  only  means  of  divine  knowledge,  to  make  peo- 
ple either  atheists  or  numskulls.  It  made  me  impatient 
and  angry.  The  young  preacher  emptied  with  great  self- 
complacency  the  vials  of  wrath,  full  of  threatenings  and 
penal  judgments,  into  the  contents  of  his  Calvinistic  ser- 
mon of  wrath  against  the  sinners  who — were  nowhere  in 
the  church,  if  I  could  judge  from  appearance.  The  church 
was  thinly  attended,  and  many  people  slept.  A  couple  of 
very  well  fed  and  well  dressed  elderly  gentlemen,  who  sat 
on  a  bench  before  me,  took  out  their  watches  every  now 
and  then  to  see  how  the  time  went  on,  if  it  were  near 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  50g 

dinner-time,  I  presume ;  they  were  apparently  not  think- 
ing about  the  last  judgment,  although  the  young  preach- 
er was  thundering  about  it,  and  its  advance  upon  a  god- 
less generation.  True  it  is  that  the  young  preacher  of 
condemnation  dealt  so  much  with  abstract  ideas  and  bar- 
ren phraseology,  that  none  of  his  descriptions  of  sin  seem- 
ed to  touch  the  heads  of  the  people  who  sat  on  the  bench- 
es. Btot  I  have  heard  other  preachers  besides  this  one 
who  presfccfi;to  an  audience  which  evidently  is  not  within 
the  church. 

I  shall  remain  here  for  two  days,  and  then  pay  a  visit 
to  our  coumryman,  Professor  Sheele  de  Yere,  in  Charlottes- 
ville, the  University  of  Virginia,  after  which  I  shall  re- 
turn hither  for  a  time. 

June  ISth.  I  have,  both  yesterday  and  to-day,  received 
a  great  number  of  visits,  and  ditto  invitations.  Among 
the  latter  M^^ne  to  a  country-home  near  the  city,  which 
I  immediately  accepted  on  my  return  from  Charlottesville, 
so  greatly  was  I  pleased  with  the  persons  who  gave  it,  a 
Mrs.  Van  L.,  a  widow  and  her  daughter ;  intellect,  kind- 
ness, and  refinement  of  feeling  were  evident  in  their  gen- 
tle countenances.  The  daughter,  a  pleasing,  pale  blonde, 
expressed  so  much  compassion  for  the  sufferings  of  the 
slave,  that  I  was  immediately  attracted  to  her. 

She  drove  me  out  yesterday  to  see  the  lovely  environs 
of  Richmond  ;  the  large,  park-like  church-yard,  with  its 
hills  and  dales,  was  among  these.  The  whole  country 
around  Richmond  is  undulating,  and  every  where  is  the 
River  St.  James  a  remarkable  and  refreshing  feature  in 
this  landscape,  through  which  it  flows  in  manifold  sinuos- 
ities. Although  it  is  so  near  midsummer,  it  is  cold,  and  I 
was  really  starved  in  the  open  carriage,  and  the  air  felt 
keen  and  ungenial. 

We  next  drove  to  a  large  tobacco  manufactory,  as  I  wish 
to  see  one  of  the  works  in  which  this  staple  of  Virginia 
was  prepared.     Here  I  heard  the  slaves,  about  a  hundred 


510  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

in  number,  singing  at  their  work  in  large  rooms;  they 
sung  quartettes,  choruses,  and  anthems,  and  that  so  purely, 
and  in  such  perfect  harmony,  and  with  such  exquisite  feel- 
ing, that  it  was  difficult  to  believe  them  self-taught.    But 
so  they  were.     God  has  given  these  poor  creatures  the 
gift  of  song  for  their  consolation  in  the  time  of  their  pro- 
bation.    And  their  life  in  the  tobacco  manufactory  is  no 
life  of  Canaan.     One  part  of  their  work,  the  rolling*of  the 
tobacco-leaf,  in  which  they  were  at  this  moment  employ- 
ed, appears  easy  enough ;  but  the  packing  of  it  in  solid 
masses  by  means  of  screw  machinery,  which  is  turned  by 
the  hand  and  the  chest,  is  so  laborious  that  it%ot  unfre- 
quently  produces  diseases  of  the  lungs,  and  costs  the  la- 
borer his  health  and  life.     I  suppose  they  become  accus- 
tomed to  the  smell  and  the  dirt  which  always  prevails  in 
a  tobacco  manufactory,  and  which  to  me  seems  murder- 
ous, as  they  are  employed  in  it  from  theirverjjehildhood. 
As  the  work  in  the  manufactory  ceases,  and  the  work- 
people are  released  for  the  rest  of  the  day  after  six  o'clock 
in  the   evening,  and  as  that  hour  now  approached,  the 
beautiful  song  of  the  slaves,  "Halleluiah,  Amen!"  did  not 
sound  like  a  burlesque ;  neither,  however,  did  it  sound 
cheerful,  nor  yet  did  the  singers  look  cheerful.     Good  Miss 
Van  L.  could  not  refrain  from  weeping.     The  slaves  were 
all  Baptists,  and  sung  only  hymns.     The  gay,  sunny  ne- 
gro songs  are  only  heard  here  in  the  slave-selling  houses, 
or  the  so-called  negro  jails.     If  these  slaves  had  only  any 
future,  any  thing  to  hope  for,  to  strive  for,  to  live  for,  any 
prospect  before  them,  then  I  should  not  deplore  their  lot- 
but  nothing,  nothing!!!     The  extreme  few  who  are  re- 
leased by  the  work  of  colonization  can  not  be  taken  into 
consideration  in  comparison  with  the  mass  who  have  no 
hope  at  all ! 

I  received,  on  leaving  the  manufactory,  as  a  present  from 
the  proprietor  (a  stout,  good  kind  of  gentleman),  guess 
what  ? — a  large  cake  of  chewing  tobacco  !     The  present 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  511 

was  so  characteristic  both  of  the  fabric  and  of  Virginia, 
that  I  accepted  it  with  great  pleasure ;  and  besides,  it  is 
of  a  very  fine  quality.  I  kept  it,  however,  as  far  from  my 
nose  as  possible  on  my  drive  home,  but  I  know,  neverthe- 
less, mouths  in  Sweden  that  would  set  a  high  value  on  it. 

In  the  evening  I  was  invited  to  a  large  party,  at  which 
a  thousand  people,  the  elite  of  the  society  of  Richmond, 
were  to  be  present. 

"He  is  the  severest  slave-owner  in  the  whole  neighbor- 
hood. One  can  tell  his  slaves  when  one  meets  them  on 
the  high  road  from  their  half- famished  appearance  !" 

"  Yes,  he  is  a  bad  man,  but  he  is  very  rich." 

It  was  thus  that  I  heard  two  people  of  my  acquaint- 
ance, themselves  slave-owners,  talking  to  each  other  last 
evening. 

"Who  is  so  bad  and  so  rich  at  the  same  time?"  in- 
quired I. 

"That  very  gentleman,  Mr. ,  to  whose  house  you 

are  invited  to-morrow  evening  to  the  large  party,"  was  the 
reply. 

I  inquired  still  further  from  other  persons,  and  found 
that  these  facts  were  universally  acknowledged. 

"And  yet  his  house  is  frequented  by  the  best  society 
of  the  city,"  said  I,  astonished;  "and  yet  you  maintain 
that  public  opinion  protects  the  slave  and  punishes  the 
bad  master." 

"  But  then  Mr. 's  wife  and  daughters  are  so  good 

and  so  amiable,"  argued  they,  "it  is  for  their  sake  that 
people  associate  with  Mr. ." 

But  I  suspect,  in  reality,  that  Mr. 's  wealth  has  as 

much  to  do  with  their  overlooking  his  offense  as  the  good- 
ness of  his  wife  and  daughter. 

I  returned  my  thanks  for  the  invitation,  but  declined  it. 

In  order  for  this  much-praised  public  opinion  to  make 
a  decided  demonstration  against  the  rich  slave-owner,  it 
is  necessary  that  something  very  horrible  and  flagrant 


512  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

should  be  committed  by  him  which  can  not  be  concealed. 
An  instance  of  this  kind  has  lately  occurred  in  Virginia. 
A  rich  planter,  not  far  from  here,  killed  one  of  his  house- 
slaves,  one  of  his  most  confidential  servants,  by  the  most 
barbarous  treatment,  and  that  merely  on  suspicion.  The 
fact  was  so  horrible  that  it  aroused  the  public  indignation, 
and  the  murderer  was  brought  before  the  court  of  justice. 

I  have  heard  slave -owners  say,  "If  justice  had  been 
done,  that  man  would  have  been  hanged !"  But  he  was 
rich ;  and  on  the  sacrifice  of  a  considerable  amount  of  his 
property  to  the  learned  in  the  law,  both  the  affair  and  the 
law  were  turned  and  twisted,  and  the  sentence  which  has 
just  been  pronounced  adjudges  to  the  murderer  five  years' 
imprisonment  in  the  House  of  Correction.  Many  right- 
minded  people  have  declared  it  to  be  shameful,  but  the 
conscience  of  the  slave  state  is  enslaved. 

An  old  free  negro  woman  has  just  been  sentenced  to 
the  same  punishment  because  she  endeavored  to  assist  a 
young  female  slave  to  escape  to  the  free  states.  The  gov- 
ernor rejected  the  petition,  which  prayed  for  mercy  in  her 
case,  on  the  plea  "of  the  state  of  feeling  between  the  free 
and  the  slave  states  at  the  present  time." 
Mammon  and  the  fear  of  man ! 

I  have  to-day  been  present  at  a  sitting  of  the  great  Con- 
vention in  the  Capitol,  which  has  met  there  for  the  recon- 
struction, or  rather  extension,  of  the  State  Constitution. 
I  had  on  this  occasion  the  pleasure  of  seeing  many  well- 
formed  heads  and  foreheads,  and  manly,  vigorous  forms 
among  the  one  hundred  and  thirty  legislators  here  as- 
sembled, and  shook  the  friendly  hands  of  divers  of  them. 
But  a  bill  regarding  general  education  was  ordered  to  be 
laid  on  the  table  for  some  future  time,  without  exciting 
much  attention.  The  assembly  occupied  itself  principal- 
ly with  the  questions  regarding  an  increase  of  judges  in 
the  country  in  accordance  with  the  increased  population. 
The  purport  of  this  Convention  was  similar  to  that  in 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  ^3 

Ohio,  and  was  designed  to  place  greater  power  than  for- 
merly in  the  hands  of  the  people,  by  giving  them  a  partic- 
ipation in  the  election  of  judges  and  other  state  officials, 
which  formerly  lay  more  immediately  in  the  hands  of  the 
legislative  power  of  the  state.  It  delighted  me  to  see 
America  progress  in  its  democratic  tendencies,  faithful  to 
its  fundamental  principles ;  for  if  the  new  steps  which  are 
now  taken  in  this  direction  do  not  produce  an  immediate 
advantage,  still  they  have  done  much  for  the  great  pop- 
ular education  of  a  conscious  public  existence  which  is 
hereby  asserted. 

In  the  large  rotunda-like  entrance  to  the  Capitol  stands 
a  statue  of  Washington,  executed  by  the  French  sculptor 
Houdon.  I  do  not  know  when  I  have  seen  a  nobler  work 
of  art,  or  one  which  more  perfectly  represented  the  ideal 
human  being  in  the  every-day  reality.  It  is  Washington, 
the  President,  with  the  large  chin,  the  somewhat  stiff  fig- 
ure, in  the  old  -  fashioned  costume ;  and  yet  it  is,  at  the 
same  time,  the  type  of  the  man  of  the  New  World,  with 
that  noble,  self-conscious,  well-balanced  mind  which  the 
Americans  talk  about  as  the  highest  excellence,  in  har- 
mony with  itself,  certain  of  its  own  course  and  its  own 
object,  resolute  in  persevering  to  the  end,  asking  advice 
from  no  one  but  the  Divine  Counselor.  He  has  bound 
his  sword  to  the  column,  and  now  stands  by  the  plow, 
resting  calmly  with  himself,  without  pride,  but  without 
hesitation  or  doubt;  the  grand,  intellectual  glance  look- 
ing out  into  the  future !  In  truth  it  is  a  glorious  figure, 
a  glorious  statue,  to  which  I  shall  gladly  return  when  I 
return  hither. 

But  I  now  leave  the  city  for  Charlottesville. 

Charlottesville,  June  20th. 

I  am  at  the  beautiful  home  of  Professor  Sheele  de  V. 
The  professor,  since  he  was  last  in  Sweden,  has  married 
the  most  charming  wife,  both  pretty  and  good,  and  both 
he  and  she  received  me  in  the  kindest  manner. 

Y2 


514  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

I  find  myself  here  in  a  lovely  mountain  district,  and 
within  sight  of  what  is  called  "  The  Blue  Ridge,"  which 
is  the  boundary  of  the  great  Virginian  Valley,  which  lies 
between  this  range  of  hill  and  the  so-called  "  North  Mount- 
ain Ridge,"  both  portions  of  the  Alleghany  range.  Around 
the  University,  which  was  built  by  the  late  President  Jef- 
ferson, in  a  magnificent  and  regular  style,  lies  a  region  of 
alternate  hills  and  valleys,  like  a  green  carpet,  bordered 
with  lovely  country  houses  and  small  farms,  a  beautiful, 
fertile  landscape,  in  which  nothing  is  wanting  but  water. 
Foremost  among  these  elegant  villas  stands,  upon  a  lofty 
hill,  Jefferson's  summer -delight,  "  Monticello,"  with  its 
splendid  trees,  and  an  extensive  view  over  the  country, 
and  the  University,  whose  founder  he  was.  I  visited  this 
place  yesterday  with  my  new  friends.  The  house,  now  un- 
occupied, is  very  much  neglected,  and  is  evidently  falling 
to  decay.  The  internal  decoration  indicated  a  man  who 
was  not  very  much  attached  to  republican  simplicity  in  his 
own  person.  One  saloon  with  an  inlaid  floor  was  a  mag- 
nificent room.  But  I  seemed  to  miss  on  all  sides  the  ap- 
pearance of  comfort,  the  appearance  of  a  light  and  pleas- 
ant home.  .. 

Jefferson  was  the  friend  of  Thomas  Paine,  and,  like  him, 
was  an  Atheist,  and  his  habits  testified  of  a  man  of  lax 
morality.  His  portraits  and  bust  present  the  physiognomy 
of  a  man  of  an  energetic  but  disquiet  life;  they  express  a 
combative  character,  obstinate,  and  extremely  irritable  if 
opposed ;  for  the  rest,  active,  cheerful,  and  communicative. 
The  forehead  is  broad  rather  than  lofty.  There  is  none 
of  Washington's  calmness  and  nobility.  Jefferson  loved 
his  country,  and  guided  its  efforts  for  freedom  to  its  out- 
break in  that  grand  act,  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
which  was  the  product  of  the  spirit  of  the  time  and  the 
people  rather  than  of  his  brain  and  pen. 

From  Monticello  I  saw  the  sun  descend  in  beauty  as 
it  released  itself  from  obscuring  clouds — a  sunset  more 
like  Washington's  than  Jefferson's  evening  of  life. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  515 

"Wandering  in  the  park,  I  noticed  that  extremely  deli- 
cious odor  which  filled  the  air,  and  which  I  have  often  per- 
ceived in  America.  I  was  told  that  it  proceeded  from  the 
blossom  of  the  wild  vine,  which  grows  luxuriantly  here, 
as  it  does  throughout  the  whole  of  the  North  American 
States.  Nowhere  so  much  as  here  does  the  prophecy  seem 
to  he  fulfilled,  of  every  man  sitting  under  his  own  vine  or 
fig-tree,  and  no  one  making  him  afraid. 

Later  in  the  evening  I  saw  a  considerable  number  of 
the  teachers  of  the  University  and  their  wives,  among 
whom  were  some  very  agreeable.  The  president,  Mr. 
Harrison,  with  his  beautiful  meditative  eyes,  and  a  quiet, 
excellent  manner,  pleased  me  particularly.  This  Univers- 
ity is  celebrated  for  the  solidity  of  the  learning  which  it 
communicates,  and  the  severity  of  its  requirements  as  re- 
gards its  students.  Young  men,  therefore,  who  have  ob- 
tained diplomas  at  the  University,  may  be  sure  of  situa- 
tions and  official  appointments  when  they  leave  it.  There 
is  here  a  separate  establishment,  which  affords  indigent 
youths  of  good  character,  and  who  have  the  desire  to  learn, 
the  opportunity  of  maintaining  themselves  at  the  academy 
free  of  cost. 

When  Jefferson  founded  the  academy,  he  excluded  from 
it  any  ecclesiastical  establishment  or  clergy.  Neither  one 
nor  the  other  found  a  place  in  his  seat  of  learning.  But 
so  clear  among  this  people  is  the  conviction  that  social 
life  requires  religious  life,  and  that  the  religious  teacher 
must  have  his  place  in  the  community,  that,  soon  after 
Jefferson's  death,  a  room  in  one  of  the  buildings  of  the 
University  was  fitted  up  for  a  place  of  worship,  and  the 
heads  of  the  University  agreed  in  summoning  thither 
ministers  of  various  religious  persuasions,  who  should  al- 
ternately perform  divine  service  and  give  religious  instruc- 
tion, by  which  means  the  principal  sects  of  the  United 
States,  Episcopalian,  Calvinist,  Methodist,  and  many 
others,  might  here  be  represented,  so  that  none  should 


OF  THE  NEW   WORLO. 

have  cause  to  complain  of  illiberal  exclusion,  and  that  the 
young  students  might  have  an  opportunity  of  hearing  all 
doctrines  preached.  The  official  period  for  each  minister 
who  is  thus  called  to  the  academy  is  fixed  to  two  years. 
The  minister  who  is  now  the  University  preacher  belongs 
to  the  Episcopalian  Church.  This  excellent  arrangement 
is  so  acceptable  to  the  youthful  students,  that,  although 
their  participation  in  divine  service,  as  well  as  the  fees  to 
the  spiritual  teacher,  are  left  entirely  to  their  own  choice, 
yet  they  very  rarely  neglect  the  former — never  morning 
and  evening  prayer — neither  do  they  disregard  the  latter. 

The  room  which  is  devoted  to  these  religious  services  is 
in  the  highest  degree  unostentatious,  and  is  low,  as  if  it 
were  afraid  of  raising  itself  too  much,  lest  it  should  be 
observed  by  the  spirit  from  Monticello  :  it  seems  afraid  of 
something. 

I  intend  remaining  at  Charlottesville  over  the  approach- 
ing examination  and  distribution  of  prizes,  that  I  may  see 
something  more  of  the  young  sons  of  Virginia  and  the 
flower  of  its  beauty,  which  is  expected  to  be  here  on  this 
occasion.  I  shall,  in  the  mean  time,  make  an  excursion 
across  the  Blue  Mountains  into  Virginia  Valley,  and  then 
visit  a  celebrated  grotto  called  Wyer's  Cave,  after  its  dis- 
coverer. Perhaps  I  may  extend  my  flight  still  further 
west  into  the  hilly  regions  of  Virginia,  to  see  the  natural 
bridgej  and  various  other  natural  curiosities,  which  are 
very  celebrated.  My  kind  host  and  countryman,  Profess- 
or De  V.,  is  a  good  friend  and  adviser.  I  set  off  from  here 
in  the  afternoon  by  the  diligence,  under  the  escort  of  a 
fine  old  gentleman,  both  learned  and  good. 

Charlottesville,  June  26th. 
I  am  just  returned  from  my  ramble  across  the  Blue 
Mountains,  but  not  in  the  diligence.  I  found  that  to  be 
so  thronged  and  so  hot,  that  I  merely  got  in  to  hurry  out 
again  ;  let  it  drive  on,  and  then,  with  the  help  of  my  kind 
host,  hired  a  private  carriage  with  two  horses,  and  a  negro 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  5J7 

as  driver ;  and  now,  my  little  heart,  you  must  see  me 
sitting  there  all  alone,  free  and  light  as  the  hird  on  the 
bough,  and  very  happy  thus,  in  solitude  and  unimpeded, 
to  travel  through  the  grand,  romantic  scenery.  And  my 
negro  Davis  is  the  best,  most  cheerful  negro  in  the  world, 
drives  well,  knows  every  place  we  pass,  is  careful  of  his 
horses,  and  is  careful  of  me.  We  did  not  this  day  get 
any  further  than  the  foot  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  where  we 
took  up  our  quarters  for  the  night. 

The  next  morning,  the  24th,  I  set  out  at  sunrise  to  as- 
scend  the  Blue  Mountains,  going  the  greater  part  of  the 
way  on  foot,  that  I  might  the  better  witness  that  glorious 
spectacle  of  the  sunrise  over  the  stretches  of  valley  of  East 
and  West  Virginia  on  each  side  of  the  Blue  Mountain 
Ridge.  It  was  a  beautiful,  bright,  but  cold  morning  in 
the  fresh  mountain  air  The  road  was  good,  and  rich 
masses  of  beautiful  wood  bounded  its  ascent  up  the  mount- 
ain. My  good  negro  followed  me  on  foot,  pointing  out  to 
me  Albemarle  and  Nelson  counties,  and  enjoying  with 
unmistakable  pleasure  the  grand,  beautiful  views,  in 
which  water  merely  was  wanting. 

Arrived  at  the  summit  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  I  beheld  ris- 
ing before  me  another  similar  lofty  blue  mountain  ridge, 
in  a  parallel  direction  to  this — this  was  North  Mountain 
Ridge.  Between  these  two  mountain  ridges  stretches  it- 
self Virginia  Valley,  east  and  west,  a  vast,  fertile  land- 
scape, adorned  with  small,  well-built  farm-houses,  culti- 
vated fields,  and  pasture-land  ;  a  quiet,  blooming  country, 
from  the  excellent  homes  of  which  one  would  think  that 
the  Lord's  Prayer  must  naturally  arise,  because  all  is  pas- 
toral, lovely,  and  peaceful ;  no  proud  mansions,  no  poor 
cottages ;  the  lot  of  all  seems  to  be  alike  good,  and  the 
house  of  Grod  alone  stands  forth  pre-eminently  in  the  as- 
sembly. 

We  drove  down  into  the  valley,  and  I  reached  at  noon 
the  celebrated  grotto,  which  is  situated  in  a  mountain  on 


518  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

the  banks  of  the  lively  River  Shenandoah.  Near  to  it  is 
a  hotel  for  strangers,  whom  the  landlord,  a  stout,  jolly  man, 
conducts  to  the  grotto.  I  was  the  only  visitor  there,  and 
thus  had  the  grotto  all  to  myself.  The  landlord  and  Davis 
attended  me  with  torches,  and  kindled  fires  here  and  there 
in  the  grotto. 

The  grotto  is  entered  by  a  very  small  door  on  the  mount- 
ain side,  and  some  of  its  passages  are  narrow  and  difficult 
enough  to  creep  through,  but  for  this  the  stranger  is  re- 
warded by  the  sight  of  magnificent  rocky  halls  and  aston- 
ishing figures.  It  required  about  two  hours  to  pass  through 
the  most  remarkable  portions  of  the  grotto.  The  stalac- 
tite figures  were  similar  to  those  which  I  had  seen  in  the 
grottoes  of  Cuba,  but  certain  forms  occurred  here  more 
frequently.  Among  these  were,  in  particular,  fluted  col- 
umns, organ-pipes,  towers,  cascades,  as  of  frozen,  foaming 
water ;  shields  were  reared  against  walls,  which  were  hung 
with  spears;  immense  depending  draperies,  often  in  the 
most  soft  and  plastic  folds,  upon  which,  if  one  struck  with 
a  stick,  a  loud,  clanging  tone  was  returned,  which  resound- 
ed through  the  subterranean  vaults.  There  were  alcoves, 
in  which  were  standing  solitary  figures  resembling  human 
masks;  and  between  these  figures,  along  the  rock- walls, 
a  confusion  of  fantastic  forms  of  animals,  flowers,  wings, 
which  seemed  ready  to  fly  away  with  the  walls  ;  cities, 
which  stood  forth  in  bold  relief,  with  streets,  and  squares, 
and  towers,  and  every  thing  which  an  active  imagination 
could  conceive.  There  is  one  crypt,  in  which  the  whole 
natural  world  is  represented  in  stone  masks — the  dark 
dream  of  a  mountain  king  about  the  life  of  the  world  of 
light,  for  even  sun  and  moon  are  there  represented  by  large 
round  white  dials  shining  forth  from  the  deep,  dusky 
vault.  There  are  large  halls,  in  the  centre  of  which 
stand  two  or  three  solitary  stone  images,  always  in  the 
semblance  of  man.  Here  are  warriors  about  to  draw  the 
sword,  there  a  philosopher  deep  in  meditation,  or  a  woman 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  519 

with  a  child  wrapped  in  the  folds  of  her  robe ;  throughout 
the  whole  it  is  a  mysterious  world,  where  life  seems  petri- 
fied in  the  midst  of  its  presentment.  A  clear  little  fount- 
ain, the  musical  dropping  of  whose  water  is  heard  at  a 
considerable  distance,  furnishes  a  cool  draught.  But  it 
was  so  very  cool  in  that  subterranean  world,  and  I  felt  so 
ill  there,  both  body  and  soul,  that  I  was  glad  to  leave  it, 
and  inhale  (rod's  warm  air  and  sunshine. 

It  was  an  unimaginably  beautiful  evening,  and  the 
whole  region  was  like  the  most  lovely  pastoral  poem.  I 
enjoyed  it  as  I  rambled  alone  beside  the  lively  little,  roar- 
ing, dancing  River  Shenandoah,  and  up  among  the  fra- 
grant fields,  where  the  hay  lay  out  in  swathes,  and  where 
they  were  just  beginning  to  cut  the  corn.  The  golden  ears 
fell  before  large  scythes,  furnished  with  a  sort  of  upper 
story  of  wooden  spikes,  which  threw  the  corn  aside  in 
sheaves.  It  looked  heavy  work,  but  it  succeeded  perfect- 
ly. Men  only,  and  no  women,  were  at  work  in  the  fields. 
The  men  perform,  in  this  country,  all  the  out-of-doors  la- 
bor, even  to  milking  the  cows.  The  women  stay  at  home — 
the  white  women,  I  mean,  for  the  black  are  not  consider- 
ed to  belong  to  the  weaker  sex. 

When  I  returned  to  my  quarters  for  the  night,  I  found 
a  handsome  old  man  sitting  near  the  house,  on  the  grass 
under  the  tree,  reading  in  a  thick  book.  Somewhat  later  I 
fell  into  discourse  with  him,  and  borrowed  the  book  from 
him.  It  was  a  book  published  by  the  sect  of  United 
Brethren,  and  was  a  statement  of  their  doctrines,  accom- 
panied by  copper-plate  engravings.  Their  peculiar  doc- 
trines seemed  to  me  to  consist  in  a  more  literal  adherence 
to  the  usages  of  the  early  Christians  than  is  now  gener- 
ally the  case.  Thus  the  sect  practice  feet-washing  as  a 
religious  ceremony,  give  the  salutation  of  the  kiss  when 
they  meet,  and  adhere  to  many  other  ancient  customs. 
This  sect,  called  also  "Dunkers,"  that  is  to  say,  baptiz- 
crs  or  dippers,  and  which  is  very  numerous  in  this  part 


520  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

of  the  .Virginia  Valley,  is  said  to  have  come  hither  origin 
ajly  from  Holland,  and  to  be  distinguished  by  its  religious 
narrowness  and  stagnation,  but  otherwise  by  great  una- 
nimity and  brotherly  love  among  themselves,  as  well  as  by 
great  industry. 

It  is  said  that  two  years  ago  a  deliberative  council  of  the 
Dunkers  was  held  at  Wyer's  Grrotto,  at  which  two  hund- 
red long-bearded  and  long-haired  men  were  present,  to 
consult  upon  the  most  important  affairs  of  the  sect.  One 
of  the  principal  questions  which  was  brought  forward 
was,  as  to  how  far  it  was  sinful  or  not  to  place  lightning- 
conductors  against  their  houses.  The  resolution  to  which 
the  assembly  came,  after  an  examination  of  the  question, 
which  continued  for  two  days,  was,  "  that  the  brethren 
who  had  already  set  up  lightning-conductors  against  their 
houses  should  not  be  recommended  to  remove  them,  but 
that  the  brethren  who  had  not  yet  set  them  up  should  be 
strongly  recommended  to  do  without  them,  and  to  trust 
in  the  Lord  alone  for  the  preservation  of  their  houses." 
In  consequence  of  this  stagnating  principle,  the  Dunkers 
allow  their  beards  and  their  hair  to  grow  in  the  most  un- 
disturbed repose,  and  by  the  same  rule,  they  should  not 
either  cut  their  nails,  if  they  would  be  perfectly  consist- 
ent ;  but  they  admit  of  an  exception  when  they  find  it 
for  the  best.  They  baptize  each  other  in  the  river  by  im- 
mersing the  whole  body  under  water,  whence  probably 
their  name,  and  they  have  meeting-houses,  and  meet  to- 
gether like  the  Quakers,  with  alternate  preaching  and 
silence,  with  occasional  feet -washing.  They  practice 
agriculture,  are  generally  in  good  circumstances,  and, 
while  they  are  friendly  and  communicative  among  them- 
selves, are  somewhat  haughty  and  cold  toward  those  whom 
they  call  the  children  of  the  world. 

While  the  Dunkers  stagnate  in  this  manner  in  the  Vir- 
ginia Valley,  rooted  to  the  earth  and  the  very  letter  of 
religion,  a  large  colony  is  at  this  moment  establishing 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  521 

itself  in  the  most  westerly  portion  of  Virginia,  under  the 
name  of  Egalitaires,  and  which,  headed  by  French  Com- 
munists, have  purchased  large  tracts  of  land  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  community,  the  tendency  of  which  is  con- 
siderably unlike  that  of  the  Dunkers.  Fortunate  country 
— where  every  thing  can  have  a  fair  trial,  and  every  bias 
of  the  human  mind  have  its  sphere  and  its  place  of  action, 
to  the  benefit  of  the  many-sided  developments  of  the  hu- 
man spirit,  without  being  detrimental  to  any ! 

During  my  journey  from  Wyer's  Grotto  the  next  morn- 
ing, I  visited  a  farm  which  belonged  to  a  Dunker  family. 
It  was  situated  near  the  high  road,  and  seemed  to  me  the 
ideal  of  a  little  peasant  farm,  so  neat  and  comfortable,  so 
well  built,  so  well  kept,  with  its  garden  and  fruit  trees. 
The  long-haired  husband  was  out  at  work  in  the  fields, 
but  the  wife,  a  stout  old  woman  in  a  costume  very  like 
that  of  a  Quakeress,  was  at  home,  and  looked  at  me  as- 
kance with  suspicious  glances.  She  had  a  strong  Dutch 
accent,  and  could  not  be  drawn  into  conversation  ;  and 
when  I  had  had  the  draught  of  water  for  which  I  asked, 
and  had  looked  about  me  both  within  and  without  the 
house,  I  pursued  my  journey  on  that  beautiful  morning, 
between  the  mountain  ridges  to  the  right  and  to  the  left, 
to  the  little  city  of  Staunton.  Here  I  dined  en  famille 
with  a  very  agreeable  lawyer,  Mr.  B.,  whose  conversation 
interested  me  much. 

There  are  in  Staunton  some  beautiful  public  institu- 
tions, among  which  is  a  large  lunatic  asylum,  establish- 
ed on  the  same  principles  as  those  at  Bloomingdale  and 
in  Philadelphia,  and  which  produces  the  same  results  as 
regards  the  treatment  of  the  insane.  Cure  is  the  rule — 
when  the  invalid  is  brought  hither  at  the  commencement 
of  his  malady — incurable  cases  are  the  exception. 

I  was  very  kindly  invited  to  remain  at  Staunton,  but  I 
wished  to  continue  my  return,  and  at  sunset  I  found  my- 
self once  more  on  the  summit  of  the  Blue  Mountains, 


522  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD 

quiet  valleys  lying  east  and  west  at  my  feet,  with  their 
quiet  little  farms  in  the  midst  of  the  golden  corn-fields — 
a  peaceful  region  to  all  appearance,  but  in  which  the  strife 
about  mine  and  thine  is  not  the  less  hotly  carried  on  at 
times,  even  to  the  separation  of  families. 

As  twilight  came  on,  we  stopped  at  a  very  pretty  and 
excellent  place  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  where  every 
thing  was  good,  and  the  air  so  fresh  that  I  was  tempted 
to  remain.  But  Davis  and  his  horses  were  expensive  lux- 
uries, and  therefore  I  drove  to  Charlottesville,  to  which 
place  I  had  a  pleasant  journey  through  the  quiet,  fertile 
country. 

I  shall  now  remain  quietly  here  till  after  the  University 
examination,  when  I  shall  return  to  Richmond ;  and  after 
two  days'  stay  there,  pay  a  visit  to  Harper's  Ferry,  one 
of  the  most  romantic  and  beautiful  tracts,  it  is  said, 
in  Virginia,  at  the  union  of  the  two  rivers  Potomac  and 
Shenandoah — that  lively  little  river  which  dances  past 
Wyer's  Grotto. 

I  intend  to  be  ready  to  leave  America  by  the  end  of 
August,  and  I  must,  therefore,  give  up  the  desire  which  I 
had  to  see  more  of  the  mountain  districts  of  Virginia. 
Besides,  the  journey  by  diligence  is  too  fatiguing  for  me, 
and  by  carriage  too  expensive.  And,  after  all,  Virginia 
has  no  mountains  which  can  be  compared  in  grandeur  to 
the  White  Mountains,  and  those  I  shall  visit. 

While  I  linger  in  this  beautiful  and  peaceful  home — in 
which  a  good  young  couple  make  each  other  happy,  and 
participate  in  the  enjoyment  of  life's  pleasures  with  a  cir- 
cle of  friends — I  read  the  early  history  of  Virginia,  and 
picture  it  to  myself. 

The  earliest  known  history  of  Virginia  is  rendered  re- 
markable by  a  poetical  incident  so  beautiful  and  so  affect- 
ing that  I  must  transcribe  it  here  for  you,  and  copy  for 
you  also  the  portrait  of  its  heroine,  the  young  Indian  girl 
Matoaka  or  Pocahontas. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  523 

The  accounts  which  the  early  English  navigators 
brought  home  of  the  beautiful  and  fertile  country  lying 
on  the  eastern  shores  of  North  America,  which  they  were 
the  first  to  examine  during  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 
so  enchanted  that  monarch,  that  she  resolved  to  connect 
this  new  country  more  closely  with  herself,  by  giving  to 
it  the  name  which  she  herself  loved  to  bear,  that  of  Vir- 
ginia. Virginia  became  the  symbolic  name  of  the  new 
virgin-soil;  and  England  first  knew  it  under  this  name. 
Even  the  pilgrims  from  Ley  den,  who  were  borne  by  stress 
of  wind  and  waves  to  the  shore  of  Massachusetts,  thought 
to  sail  "  to  the  northern  parts  of  Virginia,  where  they 
would  found  their  colony." 

Before  this,  English  adventurers  in  the  southern  parts 
of  Virginia  had  penetrated  inland,  seeking  for  gold.  But 
the  greater  part  of  these  had  perished  miserably,  in  con- 
sequence of  their  own  excesses,  and  the  diseases  incident 
to  the  climate.  One  man,  however,  John  Smith — an  am- 
bitious and  bold  adventurer,  but  equally  prudent  as  cour- 
ageous— succeeded  by  his  personal  influence  in  giving 
some  stability  to  a  small  colony,  which  was  planted  by 
the  James  River,  and  where  he  founded  a  city  called 
Jamestown. 

Where  Richmond  now  stands,  and  a  little  above  the 
falls  of  the  river,  a  powerful  Indian  Chief  called  Powhat- 
an, styled  also  the  emperor  of  the  country,  had  his  resi- 
dence, and  was  obeyed  by  many  smaller  Indian  tribes 
who  were  scattered  over  the  surrounding  country  and  cul- 
tivated the  land.  Smith  advanced  up  the  river,  and  en- 
deavored to  penetrate  into  the  interior;  but  here,  unfor- 
tunately, his  men,  disobeying  his  orders,  were  surprised 
by  the  Indians,  put  to  death,  and  he  himself  taken  pris- 
oner. He  had  been  a  prisoner  before;  had  been  sold  as 
a  slave  in  Turkey,  and,  amid  manifold  adventures,  which 
his  restless  spirit  had  impelled  him  to  seek  in  Europe, 
Asia,  and  Africa,  he  had  become  well  acquainted  with 


524  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

dangers,  and  prepared  for  whatever  might  occur.  Stand- 
ing captive  amid  the  Indians,  whose  hatred  and  cruel- 
ty he  very  well  knew,  he  remained  perfectly  calm,  and 
riveted  the  attention  and  interest  of  the  Indians  by  show- 
ing them  a  compass,  and  exhibiting  to  them  various  proofs 
of  his  knowledge  and  his  skill.  This  excited  astonish- 
ment and  admiration.  He  was  conveyed  from  one  tribe 
to  another,  like  some  wonderful  animal  or  conjurer,  and 
finally  to  the  Emperor  Powhatan,  who  was  to  decide 
upon  his  fate.  While  Powhatan  and  his  chiefs  were  hold- 
ing councils  respecting  the  stranger,  and  to  decide  upon 
his  fate,  he  employed  himself  in  making  battle-axes  for 
the  emperor,  and  necklaces  of  beads  for  his  little  daugh- 
ter, the  Princess  Pocahontas,  a  girl  of  ten  or  twelve  years 
old,  who  in  appearance  and  expression  greatly  excelled 
all  the  Indian  maidens,  and  who  was  called  nonpareille 
among  her  people,  from  her  intellect  and  her  wit.  The 
emperor  and  his  chiefs  condemned  Smith  to  death.  He 
was  doomed  to  be  sacrificed  to  the  gods  of  the  nation,  and 
his  head  to  be  crushed  by  the  blows  of  the  tomahawk. 

The  Indians  prepared  themselves  for  a  solemn  festival. 
Fires  were  kindled  before  the  images  of  their  gods ;  Pow- 
hatan sat  on  his  elevated  seat;  around  him  stood  his  war- 
riors. Smith  was  brought  forth  and  placed  upon  the 
ground,  his  head  was  laid  upon  a  stone,  and  the  toma- 
hawks were  lifted.  But  at  once  the  little  daughter  of 
the  emperor,  Pocahontas,  sprang  forward,  threw  her  arms 
around  the  captive's  neck,  and  laid  her  head  upon  his. 
The  tomahawks  must  fall  upon  her  head  before  they  reach- 
ed his.  Vain  were  threats,  prayers,  reasonings ;  the  child 
remained  resolute  in  still  enfolding  the  victim  in  her  pro- 
tecting arms.  This  conduct  at  length  moved  the  hearts 
of  Powhatan  and  his  savage  warriors.  Smith  was  par- 
doned for  the  sake  of  the  little  princess,  and  instead  of 
his  being  treated  as  an  enemy,  the  chief  gave  him  their 
word  of  amity,  and  let  him  go  to  his  own  people. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  525 

The  understanding,  however,  between  the  English  and 
Indians  continued  to  be  one  of  mistrust  and  hostility ;  the 
Indians  were  continually  on  the  look-out  for  opportunities 
to  attack  their  enemies.  Pocahontas  proved,  however,  to 
be  the  good  angel  of  the  English;  and  on  one  occasion, 
when  they  were  in  great  want,  she  brought  them  corn 
and  provisions ;  on  another,  she  came  to  their  camp,  alone, 
through  the  forest,  in  the  dead  of  the  night,  pale,  and 
with  her  hair  flying  in  the  wind,  to  warn  them  of  an  ap- 
proaching attack. 

The  beauty  and  amiability  of  Pocahontas  tempted,  a 
few  years  later,  an  old,  unprincipled  adventurer,  with  the 
help  of  a  set  of  lawless  fellows  like  himself,  to  steal  her 
from  her  father.  But  a  noble,  devout  young  Englishman, 
by  name  John  Rolfe,  an  amiable  enthusiast,  became  her 
protector.  Daily,  hourly,  nay,  in  his  very  sleep,  amid  the 
forests  of  Virginia,  had  he  heard  a  voice  which  seemed  to 
bid  him  convert  the  Indian  maiden  to  Christianity,  and 
then  marry  her.  And  when  the  Holy  Spirit  asked  him 
reproachfully  (such  are  his  own  expressions)  why  he  lived, 
the  answer  was  given,  "  To  lead  the  blind  into  the  right 
way."  He  struggled  for  long  against  his  inclination  for 
the  young  pagan  princess  as  against  a  dangerous  tempt- 
ation, but  finally  yielded  to  the  admonishing  voice.  He 
won  her  confidence,  and  became  her  teacher,  and  she  be- 
fore long  publicly  received  Christian  baptism  in  the  lit- 
tle church  at  Jamestown,  the  roof  of  which  was  support- 
ed by  rough  pine-tree  stems  from  her  father's  forests,  and 
where  the  font  was  a  hollowed  fir-tree.  Here  also,  a 
short  time  afterward,  was  she  married  to  Rolfe,  stammer- 
ing before  the  altar  her  marriage  vows  according  to  the 
rites  of  the  English  Church.  All  this,  it  is  said,  was  done 
with  the  consent  of  the  father  and  relatives,  her  uncle,  the 
chief  Opachisco  himself,  conducting  her  to  the  altar. 

The  marriage  was  universally  approved,  even  by  the 
English,  and  in  the  year  1616  Rolfe  sailed  to  England 


526  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

with  his  Indian  wife,  who,  under  the  name  of  Lady  Re- 
becca, was  presented  at  court,  and  was  universally  ad- 
mired for  her  beauty  and  childlike  naivete.  She  was 
most  admirable  both  as  a  wife  and  a  young  mother.  But 
the  young  couple  did  not  long  enjoy  their  happiness ;  just 
as  she  was  about  preparing  to  return  to  America,  she  fell 
a  victim  to  the  English  climate,  at  the  age  of  twenty-two. 
She  left  one  son,  who  became  the  ancestral  head  of  many 
generations,  who  are  to  this  day  proud  of  tracing  their  de- 
scent from  the  Indian  Pocahontas;  and  I  do  not  wonder 
at  it.  Her  memory  remains  in  singular  beauty  and  pure 
splendor.  The  race  who  produced  such  a  daughter  de- 
served a  better  treatment  from  the  people  whom  she  pro- 
tected than  it  received. 

The  portrait  of  Pocahontas,  which  I  have  copied,  repre- 
sents her  in  the  costume  which  was  worn  by  the  higher 
class  of  English  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth;  but  the  stiff 
Indian  plaits  of  hair  which  hang  down  her  cheeks  from 
beneath  her  hat  betray  her  descent.  The  countenance 
has  an  affecting  expression  of  childlike  goodness  and  in- 
nocence ;  the  eyes  have  a  melancholy  charm,  and  the  form 
of  the  countenance  reminds  me  of  the  Feather-cloud  wom- 
an in  Minnesota.  The  portrait  was  taken  in  1616,  when 
she  was  twenty-one  years  old,  and  bears  the  inscription, 
Matoaka  ah.  Rebecca  Filia  potentiss.  Princ.  Powhatan 
Imp.  Virginia. 

Smith's  portrait,  which  I  have  also  drawn,  shows  a  res- 
olute, but  not  handsome,  and  very  bearded  warrior.  His 
history,  also  in  Virginia,  is  a  chain  of  contentions,  of  bold 
actions  and  misfortunes,  by  which  he  was  finally  subdued, 
without  having  left,  of  all  his  unquiet,  combative  life,  any 
more  beautiful  memory  than  that  which  belongs  to  him 
from  the  childlike  tenderness  and  attachment  of  the  In- 
dian girl.  That  which  the  strong  arm  of  this  ambitious 
man  was  not  able  to  obtain,  was  obtained  for  him  by  two 
tender,  childish  arms  which  were  wound  round  his  neck. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  527 

My  forenoons,  as  usual,  I  keep  for  myself,  my  afternoons 
are  devoted  to  company,  walking,  &c.  I  have  visited  a 
few  of  the  small  farms  in  the  neighborhood,  which  are 
cultivated  by  free  negroes,  and  have  found  them  to  be  as 
neat  and  comfortable  as  those  which  belong  to  the  white 
farmer.  I  have  also  been  with  my  charming  hostess  to 
see  her  parents,  a  planter's  family  not  far  from  here — a 
family  of  good  slaveholders,  not  rich  enough  to  emanci- 
pate their  slaves,  but  too  good  not  to  take  care  of  and  to 
make  them  happy.  They  belong  to  a  considerable  class 
in  these  middle  slave  states,  who  would  willingly  see  slav- 
ery abolished,  and  have  white  laborers  in  the  place  of 
black  to  cultivate  their  maize  and  tobacco  fields. 

I  like,  in  the  twilight,  to  sit  on  the  piazza  under  the 
beautiful  trees  with  my  amiable  hostess,  and  decoy  her  on 
to  tell  me  about  her  life  in  her  father's  house,  of  her  first 
acquaintance  with  her  husband,  their  courtship,  and  all 
that  appertained  thereto ;  of  her  happiness  as  a  daughter, 
as  a  wife — a  little  romance  as  pure,  as  pleasant  as  the  air 
and  the  perfume  of  flowers  around  us  in  these  tranquil 
evening  hours,  while  the  fire-flies  dance  in  the  dark  shad- 
ow of  the  trees.  Her  love  for  her  father  was  her  first  love  ; 
that  for  her  good  husband  was  her  second  ;  and  the  third, 
for  the  child  which  she  expects,  is  now  awaking,  yet  with 
fear  and  trembling,  in  her  young  heart. 

In  the  evenings  I  see  company,  either  at  home  or  at  the 
houses  of  some  of  the  professors.  These  good  gentlemen 
have  now  a  deal  to  do  regarding  the  examination,  and  the 
preparation  of  testimonials  and  diplomas. 

Two  of  the  young  students  are  to  deliver  farewell  ad- 
dresses before  they  leave  the  academy,  where  they  have 
now  finished  their  studies  with  honor,  and  I  am  invited 
to  hear  them. 

28th.  I  heard  one  of  them  yesterday  evening,  and  if  the 
second,  which  I  shall  hear  this  evening,  is  of  the  same 
character,  as  I  expect  it  will  be,  I  shall  not  have  much 


528  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

pleasure  in  it.  It  is  amazing  what  an  enslaving  power 
the  institution  of  slavery  exercises  over  the  minds  of  the 
young,  and  over  intelligence  in  general ;  and  the  young 
speaker  of  yesterday  evening  belonged  to  this  enslaved 
class.  He  was  a  young  man  of  refined  features,  and  a 
certain  aristocratic  expression  of  countenance,  but  without 
any  peculiar  nobility.  He  is  celebrated  for  having  passed 
through  a  splendid  examination,  and  for  possessing  great 
talents  as  a  speaker. 

And  his  speech  really  flowed  forth  with  a  rushing  rapid- 
ity ;  but  such  a  shooting  across  the  United  States,  such 
an  ostentatious  boast  of  the  South,  of  the  "  Sons  of  the 
South,  the  flower  and  hope  of  the  Union — nay,  it  was  in- 
comparable !  One  thing  only  impeded  the  grandeur  and 
the  growth  of  the  United  States,  and  its  wonderful,  mighty 
future,  and  this  was — Abolitionism  !  It  was  this  scorpion, 
this  hydra  in  the  social  life  of  the  United  States,  which 
ought  to  be  crushed  (and  the  speaker  stamped  vehemently 
and  angrily  on  the  floor)  and  annihilated !  Then  first  only 
would  the  North  and  the  South,  like  two  mighty  rivers,  be 
united,  and  side  by  side  start  forth  toward  the  same  grand, 
honorable  goal !" 

What  this  honorable  goal  may  be,  I  did  not  hear  men- 
tioned ;  but  the  students,  who  were  present  in  great  num- 
bers, must  have  understood  it,  for  they  applauded  tempest- 
uously, and  every  heroic  apostrophe  to  the  heroism  and 
nobility  of  the  Sons  of  the  South  was  followed  by  a  salvo 
of  clapping,  which  at  the  close  of  the  speech  was  doubled 
and  redoubled,  and  seemed  as  if  it  never  would  end.  Thus 
delighted  were  the  Sons  of  the  South  with  the  speaker, 
with  each  other,  and  with  themselves. 

I  left  the  hall  very  much  depressed.  Shall  I  not  then 
find  within  the  slave  states  a  noble,  liberal  youth,  which 
is  that  upon  which  I  most  depend  for  the  promise  of  ap- 
proaching freedom  ?  Must  I  again  find  among  the  young 
men  that  want  of  moral  integrity,  of  courage  and  upright- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  529 

ness  of  mind  ?  I  have  scarcely  any  desire  to  go  and  hear 
the  speaker  this  evening,  I  am  so  weary  of  the  old  song. 

29th.  I  have  had  a  great  and  unexpected  pleasure:  I 
have  heard  "  a  new  song  sung,"  and — but  I  will  tell  you 
all  in  due  course. 

I  again  took  my  seat  in  the  crowded,  lamp-lighted  hall, 
and  the  young  man  who  was  to  speak  sat  alone  on  an  el- 
evated platform  facing  the  assembly  while  the  hall  filled. 
This  lasted  for  a  good  half  hour,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that 
the  young  orator's  situation  could  not  be  very  pleasant,  sit- 
ting there  all  alone,  as  he  did,  an  object  for  all  eyes  ;  and 
I  asked  myself  whether  it  could  be  this  feeling  which  cast 
a  certain  shade,  or  a  certain  trance-like  look,  over  his  eyes. 
He  was  a  tall  young  man,  of  handsome,  strong  proportions, 
who  yet  seemed  to  me  not  fully  grown ;  the  countenance 
was  pure  and  good,  not  regularly  handsome,  but  handsome 
nevertheless,  with  a  youthfully  fresh  complexion,  and  clear, 
strongly-marked  features.  I  endeavored  inquisitively  to 
guess  from  these  the  soul  of  the  youth ;  but  this  lay,  as 
it  were,  under  a  veil.  The  forehead  was  broad,  the  hair 
dark  brown,  and  abundant. 

At  length  the  moment  came  when  he  must  rise  and 
speak.  He  did  this  with  great  simplicity,  without  grace, 
but  without  any  awkwardness  or  confusion,  and  began  his 
speech,  without  the  facility  of  the  former  speaker,  but  with 
calmness  and  precision.  In  the  first  part  of  his  speech 
he  took  a  hasty  review  of  the  nations  of  antiquity,  with  re- 
gard to  that  which  caused  their  greatness  or  their  fall.  He 
showed  that  in  all  countries  where  slavery  had  existed,  it 
had  degraded  the  people,  and  finally  caused  their  downfall. 

When  I  heard  this,  I  confess  that  my  heart  beat  high. 
"Is  it  possible,"  thought  I,  "that  I  shall  really  hear  in 
this  slave  state,  before  this  corporation  of  self-complacent 
advocates  of  slavery,  a  youth  publicly,  and  like  a  man, 
raise  his  voice  against  slavery — the  weak  side  of  the  South, 
and  the  nightshade  of  the  New  World  ?" 

Vol.  II.— Z 


530  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Yes,  I  shall !  The  youth  continued  boldly,  and  in  the 
most  logical  manner,  to  apply  to  America  those  principles, 
the  consequences  of  which  he  exhibited  in  the  history  of 
Europe  and  Asia.  "Without  reservation,  and  with  great 
beauty  and  decision  of  expression,  he  addressed  his  coun- 
trymen thus :  "  I  accuse  you  not  of  any  deficiency  in 
courage,  in  nobility  of  mind,  in  feeling  for  the  good  and 
the  beautiful,  in  enterprise,  in  piety.  But  of  this  I  accuse 
you,  that  you  do  not  give  education  to  the  poor  of  your 
country,  that  you  do  not  labor  for  the  elevation  of  the  low- 
er classes  of  your  countrymen."  And  there  is  good  reason 
for  this  accusation,  for  in  Virginia,  in  consequence  of  the 
restrictive  fetters  of  slavery,  which  prevent  the  increase  of 
schools,  there  are  upward  of  eighty  thousand  white  people 
who  can  neither  read  nor  write.  The  population  of  Vir- 
ginia, whites  and  blacks  taken  together,  amounts  to  about 
a  million  and  a  half. 

The  young  orator  declared  the  mission  of  America  to  be 
that  of  communicating  the  blessings  of  liberty  and  civili- 
zation to  all  nations.  "  If  America  fulfill  her  duty  in  this 
respect,  she  will  become  great  and  happy  ;  if  not,  then  she 
will  fall,  and  the  greatness  of  her  fall  will  be  commensu- 
rate with  the  greatness  of  her  mission,  and  the  intended 
future  in  which  she  has  failed." 

I  can  not  tell  you  with  what  feelings  of  delight  I  listen- 
ed to  these  large-minded  and  bold  words  from  the  pure  soul 
of  a  youth,  it  was  so  unlike  any  thing  which  I  had  hith- 
erto heard  in  the  slave  states.  It  was  what  I  had  been 
longing  to  hear.  My  tears  flowed,  and  I  did  not  trouble 
myself  about  them  being  seen.     I  was  very  happy. 

But  where  now  was  the  enthusiasm  which  on  the  for- 
mer evening  had  animated  the  Sons  of  the  South.  They 
listened  in  silence,  as  it  were,  in  amazement,  and  the  ap- 
plause which  was  given  at  the  close  of  the  speech  was 
cold,  and,  as  it  were,  forced. 

The  glorious  youth  looked  as  if  applause  or  blame  con- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  53 1 

cerned  him  not.  He  had  spoken  from  his  own  conviction  ; 
his  youthfully  fresh  cheek  glowed  as  with  the  crimson 
tinge  of  morning,  and  his  dark  eye  and  clear  brow  shone 
serenely  as  a  cloudless  heaven. 

I  could  not  have  any  conversation  with  him  later  in  the 
evening,  because  he  was  summoned  to  his  father,  who  was 
dangerously  ill,  and  he  was  obliged  to  leave  the  place  im- 
mediately. Nevertheless,  I  pressed  his  hand,  and  spoke 
my  cordial  thanks  to  him  in  the  presence  of  his  teachers 
and  his  companions. 

The  good  professors  were  somewhat  confounded  by  the 
unexpected  character  of  the  young  man's  speech,  but  full 
of  admiration :  Grood  heavens !  they  had  not  expected  such 
a  speech.  Really  an  uncommon  speech !  Above  the  com- 
mon average !  and  so  on. 

Alexander  S.  Brown  (I  write  the  name  at  full)  was  de- 
clared to  be  a  fine  fellow !  a  smart  young  man !  The  pres- 
ident even  expressed  himself  very  warmly  in  his  praise. 
But  the  learned  in  law  and  books  were  nevertheless  some- 
what afraid  of  giving  to  Caesar  that  which  was  due  to 
Csesar,  and  endeavored  to  indemnify  themselves  by  cer- 
tain depreciatory  and  apologistic  concessions. 

This  was  one  of  my  happiest  evenings  in  the  Southern 
States,  and  I  now  looked  with  more  cheerful,  more  loving 
glances  upon  this  beautiful  soil  since  it  had  produced  such 
a  youth.  How  noble  and  how  happy  ought  not  his  mother 
to  be! 

Richmond,  July  1st. 

Again  good-morning  in  the  capital  of  Virginia ;  but  not 
now  in  the  city  itself,  but  in  one  of  its  rural  suburbs,  where 
I  am  domiciled  in  a  lovely  country-house,  beautifully  sit- 
uated upon  a  lofty  terrace  on  the  banks  of  the  James  Riv- 
er, surrounded  by  a  park,  with  its  lofty  spreading  trees. 
It  is  the  residence  of  Mrs.  Van  S.,  a  beautiful  home,  and 
I  am  infinitely  well  off  here,  in  the  midst  of  kind,  well- 
wishing  friends. 


532  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

I  left  Professor  S.  de  V.  and  his  charming  wife  yester- 
day morning  with  mutual  good  wishes,  and  hope  in  a 
short  time  to  have  good  tidings  from  them. 

The  business  at  Charlottesville  on  Saturday  consisted 
for  the  most  part  of  speeches  and  the  distribution  of  diplo- 
mas. I  could  not  hear  much  of  the  former,  and  my  prin- 
cipal pleasure  was  the  contemplation  of  the  assembly  of 
ladies,  among  whom  I  remarked  a  great  number  of  very 
lovely  and  happy  countenances.  If  the  Juno  style  ot 
beauty  is  not  met  with  in  America  as  it  is  in  Europe, 
there  are,  on  the  contrary,  a  greater  number  of  cheerful, 
lovely  countenances,  and  scarcely  any  which  can  be  called 
ugly.  The  men  are  not  handsome,  but  have  a  manly  ap- 
pearance, and,  in  a  general  way,  are  well  made  and  full 
of  strength.  This,  I  believe,  I  have  said  once  or  twice 
before,  but  I  have  not  said,  what  nevertheless  should  be 
said,  that  among  the  Americans  are  not  found  that  deoid- 
ed  type  of  one  distinct  race  as  we  find  it  among  the  En- 
glish, Irish,  French,  Spaniards,  Germans,  &c.  An  Amer- 
ican, male  or  female,  might  belong  to  any  nation,  in  its 
beautiful  human  character,  but  divested  of  nationality; 
nay,  even  the  Swedish,  that  is  to  say,  when  this  is  found 
in  the  most  perfect  faces,  because  a  well-formed,  fine  nose, 
and  an  oval  oountenance,  is  almost  universal  among  the 
ladies.  Our  full -moon  countenances,  and  noses  which 
oome  directly  out  of  them  like  a  handle,  or  a  projecting 
point  of  rock,  are  not  seen  here ;  neither  are  potato-noses, 
like  my  own.  Still,  I  have  seen  many  a  blooming  young 
girl  in  the  Northern  States  of  America,  many  a  hand- 
some young  man,  more  like  Swedes  than  the  English 
or  the  French.  Nevertheless,  light  hair  and  light  eyes 
are  rare. 

July  2d.  How  wearisome  is  this  interrogative,  this,  emp- 
ty and  thoughtless  chatter  of  mere  callers,  especially  la- 
dies !  Want  of  observation,  want  of  an  ear  for  life,  is,  after 
all,  one  of  the  greatest  wants  here,  and  the  school  which, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  533 

before  every  other,  is  needed  most  in  the  New  World,  is 
the  old  Pythagorean. 

Life,  with  its  large,  holy  interests,  its  earnest  scenes, 
passes  by  these  childish,  undeveloped  beings  without  their 
either  seeing  or  thinking  about  it.  Dissipated  by  the  out- 
ward and  ordinary,  they  do  not  listen  to  the  great  still 
voice  which  calls  to  them  every  day  from  the  midst  of 
the  life  in  which  they  live,  like  insects  of  a  day. 

July  3d.  I  have  to-day,  in  company  with  an  estimable 
German  gentleman,  resident  at  Richmond,  visited  some 
of  the  negro  jails,  that  is,  those  places  of  imprisonment  in 
which  negroes  are  in  part  punished,  and  in  part  confined 
for  sale.  I  saw  in  one  of  these  jails  a  tall,  strong-limbed 
negro,  sitting  silent  and  gloomy,  with  his  right  hand  wrap- 
ped in  a  cloth.     I  asked  if  he  were  ill. 

"No,"  replied  his  loquaoious  keeper,  "but  he  is  a  very 
bad  rascal.  His  master,  who  lives  higher  up  the  river,  has 
parted  him  from  his  wife  and  children,  to  sell  him  down 
South,  as  he  wanted  to  punish  him,  and  now  the  scoun- 
drel, to  be  revenged  upon  his  master,  and  to  make  himself 
fetch  a  less  sum  of  money,  has  cut  off  the  ringers  of  his 
right  hand !  The  rascal  asked  me  to  lend  him  an  ax  to 
knock  the  nails  into  his  shoes  with,  and  I  lent  it  him  with- 
out suspecting  any  bad  intention,  and  now  has  the  fellow 
gone  and  maimed  himself  for  life !" 

I  went  up  to  the  negro,  who  certainly  had  not  a  good 
countenance,  and  asked  him  whether  he  were  a  Christian. 
He  replied  curtly  "No!"  Whether  he  ever  had  heard  of 
Christ?  He  again  replied  " No f"  I  said  to  him,  that  if 
he  had  known  him,  he  would  not  have  done  this  act ;  but 
that  even  now  he  ought  not  to  believe  himself  abandoned, 
because  He  who  has  said  "  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  are 
weary  and  heavy  laden,"  had  spoken  also  to  him,  and 
would  console  and  recreate  even  him. 

He  listened  to  me  at  the  commencement  with  a  gloomy 
countenance,  but  by  degrees  he  brightened  up,  and  at  the 


\ 


534  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

close  looked  quite  melted.  This  imbittered  soul  was  evi- 
dently still  open  and  accessible  to  good.  The  sun  shone 
into  the  prison-yard  where  he  sat  with  his  maimed  hand, 
and  the  heavy  irons  on^iis  feet,  but  no  Christian  had  come 
hither  to  preach  to  him  the  Grospel  of  Mercy. 
/  The  door  of  the  prison  was  opened  to  us  by  a  negro, 
whose  feet  also  were  fettered  by  heavy  irons.  He  looked 
so  good-tempered  and  agreeable,  that  I  asked,  with  some 
astonishment, 

"But  this  man,  what  has  he  done  that  he  should  then 
be  in  irons  ?" 

"  Ah!"  said  the  keeper,  "just  nothing  but  that  his  mas- 
ter had  hired  him  out  to  work  in  the  coal-pits,  and  some- 
thing disagreeable  happening  to  him  there,  the  fellow  after 
that  would  not  work  there,  and  refused  to  go  ;  so  his  mas- 
ter wishes  to  sell  him,  to  punish  him  ;  and  he  ordered  that 
we  should  put  him  in  irons,  just  to  mortify  him." 

And  this  plan  had  succeeded  completely.  The  poor  fel- 
low was  so  annoyed  and  ashamed  that  he  did  not  seem  to 
know  which  way  to  look  while  the  keeper  related  his  story ; 
and  besides  that,  he  looked  so  good-tempered,  so  full  of 
sensibility,  that,  strong  fellow  as  he  was,  he  seemed  as  if 
he  would  suffer  rather  from  an  injustice  being  done  to  him 
than  be  excited  by  it  to  defiance  and  revenge,  as  was  the 
case  with  the  other  negro.  He  was  evidently  a  good  man, 
and  deserved  a  better  master. 

In  another  prison  we  saw  a  pretty  little  white  boy  of 
about  seven  years  of  age  sitting  among  some  tall  negro 
girls.  The  child  had  light  hair,  the  most  lovely  light 
brown  eyes,  and  cheeks  as  red  as  roses ;  he  was,  neverthe- 
less, the  child  of  a  slave  mother,  and  was  to  be  sold  as  a 
slave.  His  price  was  three  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  The 
negro  girls  seemed  very  fond  of  the  white  boy,  and  he 
was  left  in  their  charge,  but  whether  that  was  for  his  good 
or  not  is  difficult  to  say.  No  motherly  Christian  mother 
visited  either  this  innocent  imprisoned  boy  or  the  negro 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  535 

girls.  They  were  left  to  a  heathenish  life  and  the  dark- 
ness of  the  prison. 

In  another  "jail"  were  kept  the  so-called  "fancy  girls," 
for  fancy  purchasers.  They  were  handsome  fair  mulat- 
toes,  some  of  them  almost  white  girls. 

We  saw  in  one  jail  the  room  in  which  the  slaves  are 
flogged,  both  men  and  women.  There  were  iron  rings  in 
the  floor  to  which  they  are  secured  when  they  are  laid 
down.  I  looked  at  the  strip  of  cowhide,  "the  paddle," 
with  which  they  are  flogged,* and  remarked,  "Blows  from 
this  could  not,  however,  do  very  much  harm." 

"  Oh,  yes,  yes ;  but,"  replied  the  keeper,  grinning  with 
a  very  significant  glance,  "it  can  cause  as  much  torture 
as  any  other  instrument,  and  even  more,  because  one  can 
give  as  many  blows  with  this  strip  of  hide  without  its 
leaving  any  outward  sign;  it  does  not  cut  into  the  fleshy" 

The  slaves  may  remain  many  months  in  this  prison  be- 
fore they  are  sold. 

The  Southern  States  are  said  to  be  remarkable  for  their 
strict  attention  to  religious  observances:  they  go  regular- 
ly to  church,  they  send  out  missionaries  to  China  and  to 
Africa,  but  they  leave  the  innocent  captive  slave  in  their 
own  prisons  without  instruction  or  consolation. 

Yet  once  more — what  might  not  women,  what  ought 
not  women  to  do  in  this  case ! 

I  have  heard  young,  beautiful  girls  declare  themselves 
proud  to  be  Americans,  and,  above  every  thing  else,  proud 
to  be  Virginians  !  I  should  like  to  have  taken  them  to 
the  jails,  and  have  seen  whether,  in  the  face  of  all  this  in- 
justice, they  could  have  been  proud  of  being  Virginians, 
proud  of  the  institutions  of  Virginia. 

July  5th.  Here  also,  as  every  where  on  my  pilgrimage, 
have  I  become  acquainted  with  good  and  thoughtful  peo- 
ple, who  form  a  perfect  counterbalance  to  the  unthinking 
and  the  bad,  and  who  attach  me  to  the  place  and  the  com- 
munity where  I  am.     Foremost  among  the  good  stands 


536  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

the  family  in  which  I  am  now  a  guest — yes,  these  are 
ladies  so  tender-hearted,  especially  toward  the  negroes, 
that  I  find  myself  standing  upon  the  moderate  and  less 
liberal  side,  while  I  nevertheless  inwardly  enjoy  the  sight 
of  warm  hearts  who  only  err  through  an  excess  of  kind- 
ness to  an  oppressed  people.  Such  a  sight  is  very  rare  in 
a  slave  state.  Agreeable  and  clever  women,  courteous  and 
thinking  men,  have  afforded  me  many  a  pleasant  moment, 
and  warmed  my  heart  by  their  kindness  and  hospitality. 

Among  my  gentlemen  acquaintance  who  have  contrib- 
uted to  my  pleasure,  I  may  mention  an  elderly  clergyman, 
belonging,  I  believe,  to  the  Episcopal  Church,  who  has 
given  me  some  interesting  information  respecting  the  re- 
ligious life  and  songs  of  the  negroes,  and  a  Quaker,  Mr. 
B.,  with  a  handsome,  regular  countenance,  and  a  quiet, 
thoughtful  turn  of  mind.  He  has  told  me  much  that  is 
interesting  regarding  his  own  sect,  and  its  form  of  intern- 
al government,  and  also  that  lately  some  Quaker  women 
have  been  cited  before  a  court  of  justice  at  New  York,  to 
given  evidence  in  a  complicated  trial,  and  the  clearness 
with  which  they  did  it  was  universally  admired  and  com- 
mented upon  by  the  newspapers.  Mr.  B.  attributed  this 
to  the  calmness  and  self-possession  which  distinguishes 
the  Quaker  women,  and  to  their  being  early  accustomed 
to  self-government  and  public  discussions  in  the  part 
which  they  have  to  take  in  the  business  of  their  society. 

Yesterday,  the  4th  of  July,  the  great  day  of  America, 
was  celebrated,  as  usual,  by  speech-making  and  proces- 
sions, and  drinking  of  toasts,  and  publicly  reading  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  It  was  read  in  the  African 
church  of  the  city :  but  why  they  selected  the  negro  church 
of  all  others  for  the  reading  of  the  declaration  of  freedom, 
which  is  so  diametrically  opposed  to  the  institution  of 
slavery,  I  can  not  comprehend,  when  the  burlesque  of  the 
whole  thing  must  be  so  evident  to  every  one. 

I  have  been,  with  a  kind  and  agreeable  lady,  Mrs.  Gr., 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  537 

to  visit  the  House  of  Correction  here.  The  system  which 
is  pursued  here  has  nothing  new  in  it,  and  the  polite  old 
colonel  who  showed  us  the  establishment  looked  like  some 
formal  relic  of  Washington's  staff.  It  astonished  me  not 
to  find  here  one  single  white  prisoner.  Of  men  there  were 
about  two  hundred.  There  were  some  black  women  here, 
and  among  them  that  free  negro  woman  who  had  endeav- 
ored to  aid  the  young  slave  in  making  her  escape.  She  had 
a  very  good  and  frank  countenance,  but  was  condemned 
to  remain  here  for  five  years.  The  room  in  which  these 
women  were  placed  was  large,  light,  and  clean,  and  my 
companion,  Mrs.  G\,  was  received  by  the  black  female  pris- 
oners with  evident  affection  and  joy.  She  belongs  to  a  so- 
ciety of  ladies,  who  here  (as  well  as  throughout  the  United 
States)  are  organized  for  the  purpose  of  visiting  the  prison- 
ers (but  who,  in  the  slave  states,  forget  the  innocent  prison- 
er), and  it  was  very  apparent  that  the  most  cordial  under- 
standing existed  between  her  and  these  black  prisoners. 

The  rich  planter  who  maltreated  and  killed  his  slave, 
and  was  therefore  sentenced  to  five  years'  imprisonment 
in  the  House  of  Correction,  ought  to  have  been  in  it,  but 
he  was  not  yet  brought  hither,  and  probably  he  would 
purchase  his  exemption  from  the  punishment.  Mammon 
is  mighty. 

There  exists  in  Virginia  a  growing  feeling  of  the  bur- 
den and  the  guilt  of  slavery,  as  is  the  case  in  all  the  mid- 
dle slave  states  of  America,  which  would  be  much  more 
benefited  by  white  than  black  labor,  and  which  see  their 
development,  both  physical  and  spiritual,  restricted  and 
hampered  by  the  institution  of  slavery ;  and  I  believe, 
what  I  have  been  credibly  informed  is  the  case,  that  these 
states  would  have  already  shaken  themselves  from  the 
yoke  of  slavery,  and  that  Virginia  indeed  would  have  done 
so  some  years  since,  if  they  had  not  been  withheld,  and 
had  not  been  irritated  to  antagonism  by  the  unwise  and 
unjust  abolitionism  of  the  North. 
Z  2 


538  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

I  do  not  say  ihat  this  is  high  ground  for  them  to  take, 
because  no  injustice  should  prevent  our  doing  that  which 
is  just  and  wise;  but  it  is  natural,  and,  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent, I  myself  can  sympathize  in  it. 

But  now  that  the  Northern  States,  for  the  preservation 
of  peace,  have  conceded  to  the  Southern  the  honorable 
and  holy  right  of  sanctuary  which  their  states  had  afford- 
ed— now  that  they  have  given  up  the  precious  privilege 
of  protecting  the  fugitive  slave,  out  of  regard  to  the  con- 
stitutional rights  of  the  Southern  States — and  now  that 
violent  abolitionism  is  more  and  more  giving  place  to  a 
nobler  and  calmer  spirit,  nothing,  I  think,  ought  any  lon- 
ger to  prevent  the  middle  slave  states  from  carrying  out 
such  measures  as  would  contribute  to  their  highest  in- 
terests. 

The  slave  institution  of  Virginia  has  not  merely  per- 
mitted a  vast  amount  of  the  white  population  to  grow  up 
— eighty  thousand,  I  have  understood — without  being  able 
either  to  read  or  write,  and  who  are  as  low  in  morals  as 
in  education,  but  it  has  here,  as  well  as  elsewhere,  pre- 
vented the  development  of  industry  and  the  extension  of 
emigration,  and  has  caused  a  want  of  enterprise  in  public 
works,  and  hence  want  of  employment  for  an  increasing 
poor  population.  The  consequences  of  this  have  assumed 
every  year  a  more  threatening  aspect.  There  is  here  no 
background  of  strong  and  noble  popular  life,  as  in  the  free 
states,  in  which  the  government  of  the  states  and  the 
schools  are  filled  as  by  a  fresh  germ  of  life.  Immorality, 
ignorance,  and  poverty  increase  ;  and  it  can  not  be  other- 
wise when  one  half  of  the  people  hold  the  other  in  slavery. 
The  planters  of  Virginia,  proud  of  their  historic  memories 
and  of  their  slaves,  among  whom  they  fancy  that  they 
live  like  feudal  princes  of  the  Middle  Ages,  although  this 
is  a  great  mistake,  intrenched  behind  their  traditions  and 
slave  institutions,  have  styled  themselves  "  high-blooded" 
and  "  high-minded,"  and  other  such  terms,  have  sat  still 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  539 

while  the  chariot  of  the  age  has  passed  by  them.  The 
rapidly-flourishing  condition  of  the  free  states  of  the  Union 
during  a  life  full  of  great  public  undertakings,  and  the 
development  of  intelligence  as  well  as  of  the  industrial 
spirit,  and  the  decline  of  Virginia,  both  in  affluence  and 
moral  and  intellectual  culture,  in  comparison  with  the 
former,  has  begun  to  open  the  eyes  of  the  people,  and  dur- 
ing the  last  few  years  a  new  life  has  shown  itself  through 
industrial  undertakings  which  were  formerly  despised  as 
mean  and  unnecessary.  Rail-ways  are  beginning  to  be 
laid  down,  means  of  communication  are  required,  and  a 
more  vigorous  life  is  beginning  to  circulate  in  the  mate- 
rial region  of  the  state  ;  and  there  is  no  fear  of  its  stag- 
nating. 

-The  Convention  which  is  now  sitting  at  Richmond  finds 
it  has  to  deal  with  new  difficulties,  based  on  the  institu- 
tion of  slavery.  Eastern  and  Western  Virginia  are  at  this 
moment  in  open  feud  on  the  subject  of  voting  at  the  elec- 
tions. Eastern  Virginia  is  possessed  of  plantations  and 
slaves,  and  will,  according  to  accepted  usage,  vote  by  its 
slaves,  three  slaves  being  considered  equivalent  to  one 
freeman.  Western  Virginia,  which  is  hilly  country,  has 
no  plantations  and  very  few  slaves,  and  therefore  opposes 
the  right  of  Eastern  Virginia  to  strengthen  herself  by  the 
votes  of  her  slaves.  She  has,  therefore,  sent  to  the  Con- 
vention a  powerful  champion  in  a  Mr.  Weise,  who,  like 
a  new  Nimrod,  has  come  forth  from  the  forests  in  full 
hunter  habiliments,  and  deals  his  blows  around  him  with 
mighty  hunter  spirit,  speaking  in  this  style: 

"What,  you  will  let  the  voices  of  your  slaves  weigh 
against  ours  in  elections  ?  You  have  forgotten  that  you 
have  declared  the  negro  slave  to  have  no  soul.  Come, 
don't  contradict  me!  I  tell  you  that  you  have  declared 
that  hundreds  of  times  by  your  laws,  by  your  customs, 
and  by  your  statutes.  Answer  me — come  forth  and  con- 
tradict me,  if  you  can !     Have  you  not  bought  and  sold 


540  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

them  like  brute  beasts  ?  Have  you  not  forbidden  that 
they  shall  be  educated — forbidden  them  to  feel,  to  think, 
to  speak  like  rational  beings?  I  will  give  any  one  a 
hundred  dollars  who  will  prove  me  wrong.  But  it  is 
much  better  that  you  keep  your  mouths  shut  and  say 
nothing.  It  is  the  most  sensible  thing  you  can  do,  my 
friends.  If  any  one  murmurs,  I  will  kill  him  with  a  word. 
I  am  a  pro-slavery  man,  and  I  hate  abolitionism.  I  will 
neither  hear  it  spoken  of.  nor  the  emancipation  of  the 
slaves.  But  when  you  come  and  assert  that  your  slaves 
have  souls,  and  that  they  are  capable  of  voting  against 
freemen  —  come,  gentlemen,  that  is  quite  too  foolish  an 
idea,  quite  too  irrational,  because  you  have  shown  both 
by  word  and  deed  that  negroes  have  no  souls,  and  that 
they  ought  to  be  regarded  as  brute  beasts.  Talk  here, 
talk  there,  talk  as  much  as  you  like,  nobody  can  talk  me 
down !" 

Thus  does  Mr.  Weise  talk  and  perorate  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  Capitol  at  Richmond,  with  so  much  bold- 
ness and  so  much  rude  wit  and  jocularity,  that  he  puts 
all  opposition  out  of  the  question ;  and  at  the  same  time 
that  he  seems  to  favor  slavery,  he  exhibits  all  the  contra- 
dictions and  the  enormities  to  which  it  leads.  This  speech 
has  caused  great  excitement  at  this  moment,  and  the  col- 
umns of  the  newspapers  are  full  of  it. 

Through  the  newspapers  is  also  made  known  at  this 
time  occurrences  in  Virginia  which,  more  than  any  thing 
else,  seem  to  speak  powerfully  against  an  institution 
which  evidently  undermines  the  morals  and  good  sense 
of  the  white  people,  by  allowing  in  their  youth  the  indul- 
gence of  arbitrary  and  despotic  passion.  At  Lynchburg, 
a  large  city  in  Virginia,  two  young  men,  both  editors  of 
newspapers,  have  just  now  shot  each  other  with  pistols  in 
the  open  street.  A  little  while  ago  they  had  a  newspa- 
per quarrel,  in  which  they  threatened  each  other.  They 
met  one  morning  accidentally,  and,  without  agreement  or 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  54 ! 

preparation,  at  once  fired  at  each  other  with  an  intent  to 
kill.  The  one  died  the  same  day,  the  other  is  mortally 
wounded.  Both  were  newly  married,  one  only  within  a 
few  weeks. 

The -second  tragedy  is  a  case  of  elopement.  A  young 
Dr.  Williams  loved  a  Miss  Morris.  Her  father  and  fami- 
ly, planters  of  Virginia,  opposed  the  union  of  the  lovers, 
and  he  carried  her  off.  Her  father  and  brother  pursued 
them,  and  overtook  them  in  a  small  city.  They  came 
upon  them  as  they  sat  at  the  table  cPhote  of  a  hotel. 
Young  Morris,  Dr.  Williams,  and  a  young  man,  his  friend, 
who  had  aided  the  lovers,  fell  into  a  dispute  in  the  room, 
drew  forth  their  pistols,  exchanged  shots,  and  the  conse- 
quence of  this  scene  was  three  corpses,  two  of  which  were 
Dr.  Williams  and  young  Morris.  Old  Mr.  Morris  return- 
ed home,  taking  with  him  the  corpse  of  his  son,  and  his 
daughter  insane. 

These  occurrences  are  much  talked  of  and  deplored, 
but  not  as  any  thing  very  extraordinary. 

The  homes  in  the  slave  states  can  not  possibly  culti- 
vate and  guard  the  child  as  the  homes  of  the  free  states 
can ;  they  foster  selfishness,  and  those  dispositions  which 
later  in  life  disturb  their  peace. 

In  the  good  and  affectionate  home  in  which  I  am  now 
a  guest,  I  see  nothing  but  the  most  beautiful  relationship 
between  white  and  black,  and  have  occasion  afresh  to  ad- 
mire and  marvel  at  the  musical  genius  of  the  negro  peo- 
ple. A  young  negro,  who  is  house-servant  and  waits  at 
table,  sings  songs  as  naturally  as  he  breathes — sings  even 
in  the  stomach,  as  a  ventriloquist;  and  when  he,  during 
meal-times,  brushes  away  the  flies,  as  is  usual  here,  with 
a  large  besom  of  feathers,  he  does  it  unconsciously  to  the 
tune  of  some  melody  which  silently  sounds  in  his  memory. 

I  am  now  about  to  leave  the  slave  states  not  to  return 
to  them,  neither  will  I  again  return  to  the  subject  of  slav- 
ery, but  here  give  my  parting  words.     I  do  this  with  the 


542  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

wish  that  the  noble  and  right-thinking  men  and  women, 
whom  I  know  are  to  be  met  with  in  all  the  slave  states 
of  North  America,  would  stand  more  determinedly  for- 
ward and  separate  themselves  from  the  mass,  proving  by 
word  and  deed  that  they  have  considered  what  belongs  to 
the  welfare  of  their  people  and  state.  I  would  have  a 
Convention,  a  sort  of  high  tribunal,  formed  of  the  best 
men  both  of  the  North  and  of  the  South,  to  deliberate  on 
the  question  of  slavery,  and  thus  I  believe  that  the  friends 
of  freedom  and  of  the  Union  would  alike  have  reason  to 
rejoice  in  its  results.* 

The  noblest  of  the  slave  states  should  take  the  lead  of 
the  rest  by  the  adoption  of  those  measures  of  legislative 
emancipation  for  the  slave  which  at  this  moment  make 
the  Spanish  monarchy  in  advance  of  the  American  re- 
public. 

No  states  appear  to  me  more  likely  to  take  the  lead  in 
such  a  liberal  movement  than  the  youthful,  liberal  Geor- 
gia among  the  Southern  States,  and  Virginia  among  the 

*  It  was  often  assigned,  as  one  reason  for  the  impossibility  of  the 
emancipation  of  the  negro  slave,  that  he  could  not  by  any  means  be  made 
participant  of  American  civil  rights,  and  the  proposal  which  has  been 
made  in  some  of  the  free  states  to  allow  the  free  negroes  the  right  of 
voting  in  the  state  has  always  been  met  by  a  strong  public  opposition.  I 
believe  that  there  may  be  justice  in  this.  But  what  is  there  to  prevent 
the  negroes  of  the  United  States  from  fonning  themselves  into  small, 
free  Christian  communities  for  themselves,  like  the  Shakers,  Dunkers, 
&c,  who  live  an  independent  life  in  the  great  community,  without  tak- 
ing part  in  its  affairs,  and  without  disturbing  them  1  It  is  not  difficult  to 
see  from  the  negro  character  that  they  would  trouble  themselves  very 
little  about  the  government  of  the  United  States,  if  they  could  merely 
have  their  churches,  their  festivals,  their  songs  and  dances,  their  own 
independent  ministers  and  chiefs.  A  negro  president  would  always  be  a 
nullity.  Let  them  have  their  chiefs  or  princes,  and  let  the  negro  com- 
munity become  that  picturesque  and  cheerful  picture  which  God  in  his 
creation  intended  it  to  be,  as  he  has  evidently  shown  by  the  natural  gifts 
which  he  has  conferred  upon  them.  The  great  realm  of  the  United 
States  would  then  present  one  natural  family  and  one  picturesque  spec- 
tacle more — not  by  any  means  the  least  interesting  which  would  be  seen 
upon  its  soil. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  543 

Middle  States ;  Virginia,  one  of  the  oldest  of  the  American 
States,  one  of  the  foremost  in  civil  liberty  and  in  the  war 
for  independence ;  Virginia,  the  native  land  of  Washing- 
ton, Jefferson,  and  many  other  great  men,  and  before  all, 
of  Washington,  that  true  type  of  the  man  and  the  citizen 
of  the  New  World,  whose  greatness  was  of  that  rare  kind 
that  it  grows  the  nearer  you  approach  it,  and  who,  like 
every  true  American,  did  not  allow  himself  to  be  ruled 
by  time  and  by  mankind,  but  who  ruled  them. 

I  rejoice  in  Washington's  glorious  statue  in  the  capital 
of  Virginia.  I  rejoice  in  that  which  I  now  read  of  him, 
sketched  by  Bancroft  in  the  last  pages  of  the  third  part  of 
his  "  History  of  the  United  States." 

"  The  treaties  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  had  been  negotiated 
by  the  ablest  statesmen  of  Europe,  in  the  splendid  forms 
of  monarchical  diplomacy.  They  believed  themselves  the 
arbiters  of  mankind,  the  pacificators  of  the  world,  recon- 
structing the  colonial  system  on  a  basis  which  should  en- 
dure for  ages,  confirming  the  peace  of  Europe  by  the  mere 
adjustment  of  material  forces.  At  the  very  time  of  the 
Congress  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  the  woods  of  Virginia  shel- 
tered the  youthful  Greorge  Washington,  the  son  of  a  wid- 
ow. Born  by  the  side  of  the  Potomac,  beneath  the  roof 
of  a  Westmoreland  farmer,  almost  from  infancy  his  lot  had 
been  the  lot  of  an  orphan.  No  academy  had  welcomed 
him  to  its  shades ;  no  college  crowned  him  with  its  hon- 
ors ;  to  read,  to  write,  to  cipher — these  had  been  his  de- 
grees in  knowledge.  And  now,  at  sixteen  years  of  age,  in 
quest  of  an  honest  maintenance,  encountering  intolerable 
toil ;  cheered  onward  by  being  able  to  write  to  a  school-boy 
friend — '  Dear  Richard,  a  doubloon  is  my  constant  gain 
every  day,  and  sometimes  six  pistoles ;'  himself  his  own 
cook,  having  no  spit  but  a  forked  stick,  no  plate  but  a 
large  chip ;  *  roaming  over  spurs  of  the  Alleghanies,  and 
along  the  banks  of  the  Shenandoah;  alive  to  nature,  and 
sometimes  spending  the  best  of  the  day  in  admiring  the 


544  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

trees  and  the  richness  of  the  land;'  among  skin-clad  sav- 
ages with  their  scalps  and  rattles,  or  uncouth  emigrants, 
that  would  never  speak  English ;  rarely  sleeping  in  a  bed, 
holding  a  bearskin  a  splendid  couch;  glad  of  a  resting- 
place  for  the  night  on  a  little  hay,  straw,  or  fodder,  and 
often  camping  in  the  forests,  where  the  place  nearest  the 
fire  was  a  happy  luxury — this  stripling  surveyor  in  the 
woods,  with  no  companion  but  his  unlettered  associates, 
and  no  implements  of  science  but  his  compass  and  his 
chain,  contrasted  strongly  with  the  imperial  magnificence 
of  the  Congress  of  Aix-la-Chapelle.  And  yet  God  had  se- 
lected, not  Kaunitz  nor  Newcastle,  not  a  monarch  of  the 
house  of  Hapsburg  nor  of  Hanover,  but  the  Virginian  strip- 
ling, to  give  an  impulse  to  human  affairs,  and,  as  far  as 
events  can  depend  on  an  individual,  had  placed  the  rights 
and  destinies  of  countless  millions  in  the  keeping  of  the 
widow's  son." 

And  after  this  truly  great  man  had  accomplished  his 
important  task,  and  achieved  an  independence  for  his  na- 
tive land,  he  crowned  his  life,  rich  in  honor,  by  giving  free- 
dom to  his  slaves,  after  having  faithfully  provided  for  their 
future. 

How  long  will  Virginia  remain  behind  her  noblest  son  ? 

But,  while  we  are  earnest  for  the  abolition  of  slavery 
and  for  the  advancement  of  the  honor  of  America,  let  us 
not  forget  what  is  the  condition  of  the  lower  classes  of  our 
working-people  in  Europe,  and  even  in  our  own  country. 
Is  not  their  life  of  labor  too  often  like  a  hard  slavery,  es- 
pecially as  regards  the  women  ?  Are  not  the  daily  wages 
of  women  in  the  country  so  miserably  low,  that,  even  if 
they  work  every  day  the  whole  year  round,  they  can  scarce- 
ly earn  food  and  clothing  for  themselves  and  a  couple  of 
children.  When  a  third  child  comes,  then  comes  want 
necessarily  with  it.  Is  it  not  a  common  thing  to  hear  the 
poor  women  on  our  country  estates  deplore,  as  even  a  pun- 
ishment of  Grod,  when  they  are  about  to  give  birth  to  a  poor 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  545 

3hild ;  to  hear  mothers  thank  Grod  for  having  of  his  mercy 
taken  away  a  child,  that  is  to  say,  because  it  is  dead  ?  Of 
a  truth,  our  own  working-class  may  improve  themselves, 
both  intellectually  and  physically,  and  every  one  may  be 
the  artificer  of  his  own  fortune.  And  this  is  a  great  ad- 
vantage. But  circumstances  are  often  so  compulsory  that 
even  this  liberty  does  not  help  much. 

I  leave  Virginia  grateful  for  the  good  which  it  has  giv- 
en me  in  beautiful  scenery,  amiable  friends,  for  this  home 
full  of  kindness,  and  for  the  memory  of  a  youth,  from 
whose  pure  soul  I  derive  new  hope  for  the  future  of  Amer- 
ica— hope  and  anticipation  from  the  youthful  generation 
whose  representative  I  see  in  him ! 


LETTER    XL. 

Philadelphia,  July  14th. 

Since  I  last  wrote,  I  have  made  some  small  excursions 
and  had  some  small  adventures. 

I  parted  from  my  heartily  kind  entertainers  at  Rich- 
mond last  Monday,  and  sailed  down  the  St.  James  River 
to  Baltimore  in  Maryland.  The  day  was  without  a  breath 
of  air,  and  oppressively  hot ;  and  it  became  still  more  op- 
pressive to  me  from  a  certain  dogmatic  rector,  who  took 
upon  himself  to  be  my  spiritual  cicerone,  and  as  he  in- 
structed me  in  this,  that,  and  the  other,  he  stretched  forth 
and  made  vehement  demonstrations  with  his  arms,  as  if 
he  were  preparing  for  a  boxing-match  or  for  some  import- 
ant operation,  which  threw  me  into  such  a  fever  of  anx- 
iety as  destroyed  the  effect  and  the  recollection  of  his 
teachings.  A  young,  polite,  and  warm-hearted  student 
of  Charlottesville  was  my  refreshment.  He  had  the  prej- 
udices of  the  slave  states  in  his  head,  but  his  heart  was 
good  and  unspoiled,  and  I  doubt  not  but  that  I  shall  find 
myself  very  well  off  at  his  father's  plantation  on  the  beau- 


546  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

tiful  river.  How  amiable  and  refreshing  is  youth,  when 
it  will  be  so ! 

The,  banks  of  the  river  were  romantically  beautiful  and 
exuberantly  green ;  no  wonder  that  the  first  white  discov- 
erers were  so  enchanted  that  they  described  the  country 
as  an  earthly  paradise. 

The  ruins  of  the  first  church  in  Jamestown  were  still 
standing,  at  least  one  wall,  and  shone  out  red  brick  from 
a  bright  green  wood  by  the  river. 

At  night  on  the  sea  it  was  also  stifling  hot.  A  good, 
kind  negro  woman  was  my  attendant,  and  we  talked  of 
various  things.  She  had  been  a  slave  in  Baltimore,  and 
her  master's  family  had  assisted  her  to  obtain  her  freedom. 
I  asked  her  if  she  was  as  well  off  now  she  was  free,  as 
when  she  was  a  slave  in  a  good  family. 

"  Better,  ma'am,  better,"  was  her  energetic  reply ;  and 
added,  "  I  do  not  believe  that  Grod  intended  any  human 
being  to  be  slave  of  another." 

The  woman  was  remarkably  happy  and  contented  with 
her  present  life. 

There  were  very  few  passengers  in  the  saloon.  A 
couple  of  handsome  elderly  ladies  sat  and  conversed  to- 
gether, in  an  under  tone,  about  life  and  its  incidents. 
They  spoke  of  the  fate  of  friends  and  acquaintances ;  they 
spoke  of  the  death-bed  of  a  Grodless  man,  who  had  depart- 
ed this  life  without  one  backward  glance  of  regret  for  the 
past,  without  one  glance  of  hope  for  the  future ;  they 
made  reflections  on  all  this :  their  countenances  were  mild 
and  serious. 

Two  young  girls,  from  twelve  to  fifteen  years  of  age, 
meantime  rushed  in  and  out  of  the  room,  like  wild  young 
colts  or  calves  for  the  first  time  turned  out  into  the  pas- 
tures. I  took  care  to  keep  out  of  their  way.  The  elderly 
ladies  looked  at  them. 

"  Wild  young  girls !"  said  one  of  them,  mildly  disap- 
proving. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  547 

"Let  them  enjoy  their  freedom,"  said  the  other,  yet 
more  mildly,  and  with  half  a  sigh  ;  "  it  is  now  their  time  : 
life  will  tame  them  soon  enough !" 

But  would  it  not,  after  all,  be  better  if  young  girls  were 
educated  to  meet  the  hand  of  the  tamer  with  another 
spirit  than  the  colt  meets  the  bridle  !  The  combat  would 
then  be  less  .severe  and  more  noble  than  after  this  freedom 
of  the  young  colt. 

The  following  morning  I  found  myself  at  Baltimore, 
and  set  off  thence  immediately  by  rail-way  to  Harper's 
Ferry.  I  had  heard  so  much  of  the  beautiful  scenery  of 
this  part  of  Virginia,  that  I  determined  to  go  there  to  en- 
joy the  effect  of  "the  most  sublime  scenery  of  Virginia," 
as  it  was  called. 

The  rail-way  train  flew  onward,  making  innumerable 
windings  and  turnings  along  the  wooded  and  romantic 
banks  of  a  little  river,  with  such  abruptness  and  irregu- 
larity as  to  remind  me  of  a  terrified  cow,  and  to  make 
me  fear  every  moment  lest  it  should  be  swung  into  the 
river.  But  we  arrived,  without  let  or  hinderance,  at  the 
little  hamlet  at  Harper's  Ferry. 

Here  I  remained  for  three  days  alone  and  unknown, 
enjoying  greatly  my  solitary  rambles  over  the  hills,  and 
in  that  romantic  region.  It  reminded  me  of  certain  hilly 
districts  of  Dalecarlia,  and  still  more  of  Miinden  Valley 
in  Germany,  where  the  Rivers  Fulda  and  Verra  meet,  be- 
cause the  rock  formation  and  the  vegetation  are  similar  in 
these  two  cases.  Here  it  is  that  the  lively,  sportive  She- 
nandoah and  the  grave  Potomac  meet  and  unite  to  form 
the  great  Potomac  River.  Shenandoah  is  a  gay  and  good 
young  maiden,  dancing  carelessly  along  between  verdant 
banks — laughing,  leaping  in  the  innocent  enjoyment  of 
life.  Potomac  is  a  gentleman  of  much  older  years,  who 
advances  onward  solemnly  and  silently  from  the  forests  of 
the  West,  with  slow  movement  and  shallow  water.  He 
meets  the  gay  Shenandoah,  and  draws  her  silently  to  him- 


548  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

self.  She  falls  thoughtlessly  into  his  bosom,  and  is  swal- 
lowed up  there.  The  rushing,  dancing  Shenandoah  is  no 
longer  heard  of,  no  longer  seen  ;  it  is  all  over  with  her  gay 
temper;  it  is  all  over  with  herself;  she  has  become  Mrs. 
Potomac.  Mr.  Potomac,  however,  extends  himself  with  in- 
creasing, swelling  waters,  and  equally  calmly,  but  more 
majestically,  continues  his  course  to  Washington,  and  thence 
to  the  sea.  Poor  little  Shenandoah  !  I  am  fond  of  her,  and 
feel  sympathy  for  her  ;  and  though  I  gladly  saw  from  the 
heights  the  Potomac  advancing  onward  in  calm,  profound 
sweeps  through  the  western  highlands,  I  yet  preferred  go- 
ing down  into  the  valley  south  of  the  mountain,  where  the 
Shenandoah,  still  a  maiden,  dances  onward  among  the  rocks 
which  crowned  her  bacchante  head  with  the  most  beauti- 
ful garlands  and  crowns  of  foliage,  or  beneath  lofty  trees,  in 
which  flocks  of  little  yellow  birds,  like  Canary  birds,  flew 
and  twittered  gayly.  The  country  was  here  infinitely 
pretty  and  romantic,  and  the  waters  of  the  Shenandoah, 
although  shallow,  are  as  clear  as  crystal. 

Lower  down  the  river,  on  this  same  side,  is  a  gun  man- 
ufactory, which  just  at  this  moment  is  in  a  state  of  great 
activity.  The  houses  of  the  work-people  lie  on  the  hill- 
side— small  houses,  well  built,  all  alike,  and  from  which 
the  views  were  very  beautiful. 

"  We  are  all  equal  here,"  said  a  young  woman  to  me 
in  one  of  these  dwellings,  into  which  I  had  gone  to  rest ; 
"  our  circumstances  are  all  alike." 

They  were  very  good  ;  and  yet  she  did  not  look  happy. 
We  sat  in  a  parlor  where  every  thing  was  comfortable, 
and  even  elegant.  The  young  woman  had  a  little  boy 
in  her  arms,  and  yet  she  was  not  happy  ;  that  was  evident. 
Something  in  her  mild,  sorrowful  expression  told  me  that 
she  was  not  happily  married. 

In  another  house  I  made  the  acquaintance  of  an  older 
woman,  whose  countenance  bore  the  impress  of  the  deep- 
est sorrow.     She  had  lost  her  husband,  and  he  had  been 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  549 

the  joy  of  her  life.  She  spoke  of  him  with  words  which 
made  me  mingle  my  tears  with  hers. 

In  the  beautiful  evenings  the  doors  of  the  houses  for  the 
most  part  stood  open,  and  women  stood  before  them  with 
their  children,  or  sat  outside  and  sewed.  I  made  acquaint- 
ance first  with  the  children,  and  then  with  the  mothers. 

All  were  similar  in  the  lot  of  outward  fortune,  and  yet 
with  that  eternal  dissimilarity  of  the  inner  fortune  of  life ! 
Thus  will  it  always  be.  But  yet  this  dissimilarity  is 
borne  more  easily  than  that  which  is  caused  by  the  prej- 
udices of  caste.  It  causes  less  murmuring  and  less  bit- 
terness. 

There  was  one  evening  a  wedding  down  in  the  hamlet, 
and  the  wedding  guests  were  seen  in  their  gay  wedding 
attire  wandering  down  the  foot-paths  on  the  hill-side  from 
the  dwellings  on  the  hill  to  the  shore.  They  were  dress- 
ed simply  but  tastefully,  very  much  in  the  same  style  as 
the  people  dress  themselves  for  company  in  the  cities,  but 
in  less  costly  materials. 

One  evening,  when  somewhat  late  I  was  returning  home 
over  the  hills,  I  saw,  sitting  on  a  style  which  I  had  to  pass, 
a  man  in  a  blue  artisan  blouse,  with  his  brow  resting  on 
his  hand,  in  which  he  held  a  pocket-handkerchief.  As  I 
came  nearer,  he  removed  his  hand  and  looked  at  me,  and 
I  saw  an  Irish  nose  in  a  good  lively  countenance,  which 
seemed  to  be  that  of  a  man  about  thirty  years  of  age. 

"  It's  very  warm  !"  said  he,  speaking  English. 

"Yes,"  said  I,  passing,  "and  you  have  worked  hard, 
have  you  not?" 

"Yes,  my  hands  are  quite  spoiled!"  and  with  that  he 
exhibited  a  pair  of  coarse  black  hands. 

I  asked  a  little  about  his  circumstances.  He  was  an 
Irishman,  named  Jim,  and  had  come  hither  to  seek  for 
work,  which  he  had  found  at  the  manufactory,  and  by 
which  he  could  earn  twenty  dollars  a  month.  But  still, 
he  said,  he  loved  the  Old  Country  best,  and  he  meant  to 


550  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

return  to  it  as  soon  as  he  could  get  together  a  thousand 
dollars. 

I  inquired  if  he  were  married. 

No !  he  had  thought  it  best  to  remain  unmarried.  And 
then  he  inquired  if  I  were  married. 

I  replied  no ;  and  added  that,  like  him,  I  thought  it 
best  to  remain  unmarried,  after  which  I  bade  him  a  friend- 
ly good-by. 

But  he  rose  up,  and,  following  me,  said, 

"And  you  are  wandering  about  here  so  alone,  Miss! 
Don't  you  think  it  is  wearisome  to  go  wandering  about 
by  yourself?" 

"No,  Jim,"  said  I;  "I  like  to  go  by  myself." 

"  Oh,  but  you  would  feel  yourself  so  much  better  off," 
said  he;  "you  would  find  yourself  so  much  happier,  if 
you  had  a  young  man  to  go  about  with  you,  and  take  care 
of  you !" 

"  But  I  find  myself  very  well  off  as  I  am,  Jim,"  said  I. 

"  Oh,  but  you'd  find  yourself  much,  much  better  off,  if 
you  had  a  young  man,  I  assure  you,  a  young  man  who 
was  fond  of  you,  and  would  go  with  you  every  where.  It 
makes  the  greatest  difference  in  the  world  to  a  lady,  I  do 
assure  you  !" 

"But,  Jim,  I  am  an  old  lady  now,  and  a  young  man 
would  not  trouble  himself  about  me." 

"You  are  not  too  old  to  be  married,  Miss,"  said  he; 
"and  then  you  are  good-looking,  Miss;  you  are  very  good- 
looking,  Ma'am !  and  a  nice  young  man  would  be  very 
glad  to  have  you,  to  go  about  every  where  with  you." 

"  But,  Jim,  perhaps  he  would  not  like  to  go  where  I 
should  like  to  go,  and  then  how  should  we  get  on  to- 
gether?" 

"  Oh,  yes,  he  would  like,  Ma'am,  I  assure  you  he  would 
like  it!  And  perhaps  you  have  a  thousand  dollars  on 
which  you  would  maintain  him,  Ma'am." 

"But,  Jim,  I  should  not  like  to  have  a  husband  who 
would  merely  have  me  for  the  sake  of  my  dollars." 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  551 

"  You're  right  there,  Miss,  very  right.  But  you  would 
he  so  very  much  happier  with  a  nice  young  man  who  would 
take  care  of  you,"  &c. 

"  Look  here,  Jim,"  said  I,  finally ;  "up  there,  above  the 
clouds,  is  a  great  big  Grentleman  who  takes  care  of  me,  and 
if  I  have  him,  there  is  no  need  of  any  one  else." 

The  thought  struck  my  warm-hearted  Irishman,  who 
exclaimed, 

"  There  you  are  right,  Miss!  Yes,  He  is  the  husband, 
after  all !  And  if  you  have  Him,  you  need  not  be  afraid 
of  any  thing !" 

"Nor  am  I  afraid,  Jim.  But  now,"  said  I,  "go  ahead, 
for  the  path  is  too  narrow  for  two." 

And  we  separated.  What  now  do  you  think  of  your 
proposed  brother-in-law  ? 

The  third  day  of  my  stay,  people  began  to  have  some 
knowledge  of  who  was  the  solitary  wanderer  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, and  kind  visitors  came  with  invitations,  which  I 
regretted  not  being  able  to  receive  and  accept,  in  conse- 
quence of  an  attack  of  toothache.  The  heat,  too,  was 
again  oppressive,  and  affected  both  soul  and  body. 

From  Harper's  Ferry  I  proceeded  to  Philadelphia.  The 
day  was  beautiful,  but  the  journey  was  fatiguing,  from  the 
many  changes  which  were  requisite  from  steam-boat  to 
rail- way  and  back  again,  and  because  I,  being  alone,  with- 
out a  gentleman  friend,  had  to  carry  my  own  luggage, 
being  unwilling  to  trouble  any  stranger.  In  my  case, 
however,  it  mattered  little,  as  I  was  strong  and  well ;  but 
I  was  really  distressed  for  a  lady,  solitary  like  myself,  but 
an  invalid  and  suffering,  who  did  not  seem  able  to  carry 
her  carpet-bag  herself.  And  when  I  saw  tall,  strong  men, 
without  any  thing  in  their  hands,  passing  by  this  lady, 
evidently  a  gentlewoman,  who  was  so  in  need  of  help, 
without  troubling  themselves  about  her,  I  confess  to  my 
being  somewhat  surprised.  Where  was  now  that  vaunted 
American  politeness !    I  would  have  been  very  glad  to  have 


552  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

helped  her  myself,  but  that  I  had  enough  to  do  with  my 
own  effects,  and  there  was  so  little  time,  because  these 
changes  were  made  very  rapidly. 

I  dislike  that  woman  should  demand  from  men  polite- 
ness and  service,  and  I  believe  that  women  who  have  es- 
teem for  themselves  are  the  very  last  who  would  make 
claims  of  this  kind  ;  but  yet  it  ought  not  to  be  forgotten 
that  women  within  the  house  serve  the  men,  and  that  they 
generally  do  so  willingly  and  in  the  entire  spirit  of  affec- 
tion, and  very  few  indeed  are  the  men  who  do  not,  some 
time  or  other,  experience  the  charm  of  this  service,  and 
still  fewer  are  they  who  have  not  to  thank  the  care  and 
kindness  of  women  for  the  care  of  their  childhood  and 
youth.  It  ought  not,  then,  to  be  too  much  for  them,  on  the 
highways  of  life,  to  extend  to  them,  in  passing  by,  a  help- 
ing hand,  especially  when  this  can  be  done  at  the  expense 
of  very  little  time  and  no  self-sacrifice.  And  in  a  general 
way  there  is  no  need  to  preach  to  American  men  about 
politeness.  That  which  I  saw  on  this  and  two  other  oc- 
casions in  the  United  States  were  so  very  much  opposed 
to  the  general  politeness,  and  even  kindness,  that  it  merely 
proves  the  truth  of  the  old  proverb,  "  There  is  no  rule  with- 
out an  exception." 

And,  now  that  I  am  speaking  about  rail- way  traveling, 
I  may  mention  that  there  is  still  a  great  want  in  America, 
where,  however,  so  much  is  done  for  the  convenience  of  the 
traveler,  in  there  not  being,  as  there  are  in  England  and 
other  European  countries,  officials  at  the  rail- way  stations 
whose  sole  duty  is  to  render  any  assistance  to  travelers 
which  they  may  need.  And  in  America,  where  ladies 
travel  so  much  alone,  it  is  more  requisite  than  elsewhere, 
and  would  be  to  them  the  greatest  comfort ;  for  what  wom- 
an of  delicacy  would  ask  for  aid  which  it  would  be  consid- 
ered trouble  to  give  her? 

I  spent  the  latter  part  of  that  beautiful  day  very  pleas- 
antly in  quiet  companionship  with  my  new  and  only  ac- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 


553 


quaintance  on  the  journey,  the  already  -  mentioned  and 
agreeable  lady ;  watched  the  sun  set,  and  the  moon  ascend 
in  splendor ! 

In  the  evening  I  was  at  Philadelphia,  excellently  lodged 
in  the  handsome  and  comfortable  dwelling  of  the  kind 
Quaker  couple,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  E.  T. 

The  angelic  young  girl,  Mary  T.  (the  sister  of  Mrs.  T.), 
whom  I  had  seen  this  time  last  year  lying  in  white  gar- 
ments on  her  bed,  had  now  lain  for  two  days  in  the  earth 
beneath  green  trees.  Her  death  was  bright,  as  was  her 
state  in  life,  and  she  lies  in  her  grave  with  her  face  turned 
to  the  rising  sun.  She  who  wrote  of  the  insect's  meta- 
morphosis, and  loved  to  converse  of  the  moment  when 
they  freed  their  wings  from  their  confinement,  is  now  free 
and  enfranchised  as  the^. 

I  visited  with  her  brother,  last  evening,  her  final  rest- 
ing-place on  earth,  a  beautiful,  peaceful  spot. 

July  15th.  Ah,  my  child,  how  delighted  I  am  with  the 
drawing  academy  for  young  girls  which  I  visited  yester- 
day !  It  is  an  excellent  institution,  and  will  effect  an  in- 
finite deal  of  good.  Here  genius  and  the  impulse  for  cul- 
tivation in  young  women  may  receive  nourishment  and 
development,  and  patient  industry  and  the  power  of  labor 
have  occupation  and  pecuniary  profit  in  the  most  agree- 
able way.  Young  girls  can  receive  instruction  at  this 
academy  (the  poor  free  of  cost,  the  more  wealthy  on  the 
payment  of  a  small  sum)  in  drawing,  painting,  composi- 
tion; in  the  making  of  designs  for  woven  fabrics,  carpets, 
or  paper-hangings ;  in  wood  engraving,  lithography,  &c. ; 
and  the  establishment  has  already  been  so  successful,  and 
so  great  is  the  progress  made  by  the  pupils,  so  numerous 
are  the  orders  for  designs,  wood  engraving,  &c,  and  so 
well  paid  is  all,  that  the  young  girls  are  able  already  to ' 
make  considerable  earnings,  and  there  is  every  prospect 
that  the  establishment  will,  within  very  few  years,  be  able 
fully  to  support  itself. 

Vol.  IL— A 


554  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

It  is  the  same  school  which  I  saw  last  year  in  its  in- 
fancy, with  the  warm-hearted  Mrs.  P.,  the  wife  of  the 
British  consul  here,  when  it  entirely  depended  on  her  sup- 
port. Since  then  it  has  rapidly  developed  itself,  has  he- 
come  incorporated  with  the  excellent  Franklin  Institute 
here,  and  receives  an  annual  stipend  from  its  funds,  and 
now  grows  from  its  own  strength.  Several  of  the  young 
pupils  gain  already  from  ten  to  fifteen  dollars  per  week. 
The  publisher  of  "Sartain's  Magazine"  told  me  that  the 
demand  for  such  work  in  the  United  States,  for  newspa- 
pers, magazines,  manufactures,  &c,  was  so  great,  that  all 
the  women  of  the  country,  who  had  time  to  devote  them- 
selves to  such  occupation,  might  have  full  employment. 
And  never  have  I  seen,  in  any  school  whatever,  so  many 
cheerful,  animated  countenances.  •  One  of  the  most  cheer- 
ful, was  that  of  a  young  girl  who  had  hitherto  maintained 
herself  by  dress-making,  but  who  was  found  to  possess  so 
fine  a  talent  for  drawing,  that  she  might  now  calculate 
with  certainty  on  making  by  this  means  a  respectable 
maintenance  for  her  whole  life. 

The  cheerful,  agreeable  superintendent,  Mrs.  Hill,  told 
me  that  the  young  girls  were  so  amused  and  interested 
by  their  work,  that  they  sometimes  remained  in  the  school 
the  whole  day,  instead  of  five  hours,  which  constituted 
the  proper  school-time.  I  am  enchanted  with  this  insti- 
tution, which  reveals  a  bright  future  for  so  many  young 
girls,  otherwise  unprovided  for,  and  develops  the  feeling 
of  beauty  in  their  minds,  while  it  opens  a  path  for  them 
in  manifold  ways.  I  am  very  much  pleased  with  this 
academy  also,  because  its  design  is  applicable  to  Sweden, 
and  may  there  open  a  prospect  for  many  a  one  in  the  im- 
provement of  both  soul  and  body.  I  have  brought  away 
with  me  many  proofs  and  specimens,  which  have  been 
kindly  given  to  me,  as  well  as  all  information  which  I 
could  obtain. 

Ah !  let  us,  if  possible,  establish  almshouses  and  asylums 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  555 

for  the  old,  the  infirm,  and  the  sick  L  but  for  the  young, 
let  us  give  work — free  scope  for  emulation;  let  us  unfold 
paths  for  their  development,  and  noble  objects  for  their 
lives.  This  is  the  only  really  good  assistance  which  can 
be  given  to  girls  otherwise  unprovided  for,  because  it  nec- 
essarily implies  elevation,  and  secures  happiness  by  self- 
acquired  worth.  More  of  this  when  we  meet.  I  feel  as 
if  the  time  of  our  meeting  were  now  so  near,  that  it  was 
hardly  worth  while  to  write  long  letters. 

17th.  The  same  excellent  and  agreeable  gentleman  (Dr. 
E.)  who  took  me  to  the  drawing  academy,  accompanied 
me  to-day  to  the  medical  college  for  ladies,  which  was 
established  here  a  year  ago,  and  which  will  enable  ladies 
to  receive  a  scientific  education  as  physicians.  This  in- 
stitution has  not  been  established  without  great  opposi- 
tion, but  it  has  nevertheless  come  into  operation,  to  the 
honor  of  the  spirit  and  justice  of  the  New  World  !  To 
this  ought  also  to  be  added  the  steadfastness  and  talent 
of  a  young  American  woman,  and  the  .reputation  which 
she  obtained  abroad.  Elizabeth  Blackwell,  after  having 
for  several  years,  by  hard  work,  helped  to  educate  and 
maintain  several  younger  sisters,  devoted  herself  to  the 
profession  of  medicine,  firmly  resolved  to  open  in  this  way 
a  career  for  herself  and  other  women.  She  was  met  by  a 
thousand  difficulties;  nrejudice  and  ill  will  threw  imped- 
iments in  every  step ;  Dut  she  overcame  all ;  and  finally 
studied  and  graduated  as  physician  at  the  city  of  Gene- 
va, in  Western  New  York.  After  this  she  went  abroad, 
desirous  of  entering  and  passing  the  Medical  College"  of 
Paris.  The  head  of  the  college  was  shocked':  "You  must 
dress  yourself  as  a  man,"  said  he,  "  otherwise  it  will  be 
quite  impossible." 

"  I  shall  not  alter  even  a  ribbon  on  my  bonnet !"  said 
she ;  "  do  as  you  will ;  but  your  conduct  shall  be  made 
known.  You  have  seen  my  certificate ;  you  have  no  right 
to  refuse  me  admission." 


556  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

Mr.  L.  was  obliged  to  comply.  Elizabeth's  womanly 
dignity  and  bearing,  added  to  her  remarkable  knowledge, 
impressed  the  professors  as  well  as  students  of  the  college. 
The  young  woman  pursued  her  studies  in  peace,  protect- 
ed by  her  earnestness  and  scientific  knowledge.  Having 
greatly  distinguished  herself,  and  won  the  highest  com- 
mendation, she  left  Paris  for  London,  where  she  gathered 
fresh  laurels,  both  in  medical  and  chirurgical  science. 
She  is  at  this  moment  expected  back  in  America,  where 
she  intends  to  be  a  practicing  physician.  Dr.  E.  wished 
me  to  become  acquainted  with  this  young  woman — this 
vigorous  soul  in  a  slender  and  delicate  frame — whom  he 
cordially  admires,  and  rejoices  over  as  with  paternal  pride. 
He  said,  speaking  of  her  to  me, 

"  She  is  not  taller  than  you,  but  she  would  take  you 
under  one  arm  and  my  daughter  under  the  other,  and  run 
up  stairs  with  you  both." 

I  should  like  to  see  that. 

It  was  now  the  time  of  vacation  at  this  institution, 
which  contains  already  upward  of  seventy  female  stu- 
dents ;  but  the  session  will  soon  recommence,  and  the 
professor  of  anatomy,  a  handsome,  agreeable  man,  was 
busied  in  the  preparation  of  a  human  skeleton. 

It  seems  to  me  very  desirable  that  this  establishment 
should  direct  the  attention  of  t^  female  students,  or 
rather  that  they  should  themselves  direct  it,  to  that  por- 
tion of  medical  science  which  pre-eminently  belongs  to 
them ;  for  is  there  not  here,  as  in  all  spheres  of  life,  sci- 
ence, arts,  and  professions,  one  region  which,  beyond  all 
others,  belongs  to  woman,  by  reason  of  natural  tenden- 
cies ?  In  medicine,  it  is  evidently  partly  the  preventive 
— that  is  to  say,  by  attention  to  health  and  diet,  to  effect 
the  prevention  of  disease,  especially  in  women  and  chil- 
dren— and  partly,  par  excellence,  healing,  curing.  Wom- 
en have  in  all  ages  shown  a  remarkable  talent  for  the 
healing  art — have  shown  an  ability,  by  herbs  and  the  so- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  557 

called  domestic  medicine,  to  cure  or  assuage  human  suf- 
fering. Their  branch  of  medical  art  ought  evidently  to 
be  that  of  the  alleviation  of  pain  ;  they  should  not  be  the 
instigators  of  suffering.  In  this  they  would  make  great 
progress.  The  instincts  of  the  heart  would  be  united  in 
them  with  the  knowledge  of  the  head.  Curative  medi- 
cine would  therefore  be  more  adapted  to  them  than  sur- 
gery. And  herbs,  those  beautiful  healing  herbs,  which 
stand  on  the  hilltops  and  amid  the  fields  like  beneficent 
angels  beckoning  in  the  summer  winds,  may  be  borne  by 
the  hands  of  the  female  physician  into  the  dwellings  of 
the  sufferers,  and,  by  means  of  miraculous  powers  called 
forth  by  love  and  art,  may  promulgate  the  Evangile  of 
health  more  and  more  over  the  earth,  and  change,  as 
much  as  is  possible,  even  the  so  frequently  terrible  work 
of  death  into  a  peaceful  transition  state.  Oh,  to  be  young, 
to  be  able  to  devote  a  life  to  this  glorious  science  ! 

Women,  in  all  lands  and  in  all  ages,  have  practiced  the 
art  of  the  physician  with  this  aim.  The  work  which  de- 
mands more  prolonged  study,  a  more  vigorous  resolution, 
a  stronger,  bolder  hand,  will  in  this  profession,  as  in  all 
others,  always  become  the  part  of  the  man,  because  he  is 
best  fitted  for  it. 

July  20th.  Here  I  am,  still  detained  by  events  in  the 
family  whose  guest  I  am;  for  only  one  week  after  the 
death  of  Mary  T.,  she  was  followed  to  the  grave  by  her 
most  beloved  sister;  and  Mr.  E.  T.,  who  was  to  accompany 
me  to  New  York,  is  obliged  to  remain  here  yet  a  few  days. 

These  two  young  sisters,  who  were  both  invalids,  had 
vigorous,  richly-endowed  souls,  and  had  always  lived  in  a 
state  of  heartfelt  friendship  with  each  other,  laboring  to- 
gether on  literary  subjects  for  the  benefit  of  the  young. 
Tenderly  attached  in  life,  it  was  well  that  they  should 
accompany  each  other  in  death.  But  they  have  left  a 
great  vacuum  in  the  home  where  there  is  now  only  one 
daughter  remaining.     She  who  last  died  lived  during  the 


558  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

last  days  of  her  earthly  existence  amid  the  most  beautiful 
visions  of  her  departed  sister,  and  of  their  ascending  to- 
gether into  a  realm  of  glory. 

The  interment,  at  which  I  was  present  yesterday,  took 
place  according  to  Quaker  custom,  without  any  unneces- 
sary pomp  or  parade,  without  any  ceremony  or  show.  It 
took  place  amid  alternate  short  addresses  both  of  men  and 
women,  and  silence,  all  in  accordance  with  the  influence 
of  the  Spirit.  It  was  really  very  affecting,  when  all  the 
friends  and  relations  were  assembled  in  the  house  of  the 
dead,  and  were  sitting  together  in  silence  in  one  room,  to 
hear  the  aged,  deeply-afflicted  mother  lift  up  her  trem- 
bling voice,  and  begin  in  these  words : 

"My  heart  has  been  severely  tried,  but  Grod  has  seen 
me  in  his  mercy  !"  All  that  she  said  came  so  purely 
from  the  depths  of  a  Christian  mother's  heart,  and  was, 
at  the  same  time,  so  tender  in  feeling,  and  so  strong  in. 
faith  and  submission,  that  nothing  could  have  been  better. 
Most  beautiful  was  the  consolation  which  she  derived 
from  the  knowledge  of  the  purity  of  her  departed  daugh- 
ters' views  and  objects  in  life,  and  the  memory  of  her 
youngest  daughter's  last  words  shortly  before  her  death. 

"When  the  mother  ceased,  amid  the  tears  of  all  present, 
another  elderly  lady  spoke  and  dried  them  again ;  for  her 
speech  was  a  cold  and  thin  dilution  of  the  words  of  the 
first.  Then  followed  an  elderly  gentleman,  who  gave  a 
third  edition,  but  not  improved.     Nor  indeed  could  it  be. 

We  drove  to  the  burial-place  amid  thunder  and  heavy 
rain.  But  just  as  we  alighted  from  the  carriages,  and  the 
coffin  was  lowered  to  the  earth  beneath  the  shadowy  trees, 
the  silvery  sun  burst  forth  from  the  clouds  and  illumined 
most  splendidly  the  silent  scene,  the  yet  descending  drops, 
the  beautiful  trees,  and  continued  to  shine  the  whole  time 
during  an  address  from  one  of  the  elders  of  the  company 
(which  was  as  dry  and  prosaic  as  the  sunshine  was  warm 
and  poetic),  and  until  the  coffin  was  laid  in  the  earth. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  559 

It  is  very  singular,  but  precisely  the  same  occurrence 
is  said  to  have  taken  place  at  Mary's  interment ;  the  same 
funeral  procession  amid  the  rain,  the  same  splendid  sun- 
shine by  the  grave.  Are  such  merely  accidental?  The 
two  young  sisters  partake  of  the  same  grave  beneath  the 
same  sheltering  tree,  as  they  partook  of  the  same  life, 
joys,  and  sorrows,  and  their  poetical  sister-in-law  may 
sing  of  them, 

Lay  them  together  side  by  side, 
To  slumber  most  serenely,  &c. 

Mrs.  E.  T.  has  great  poetical  talent,  especially  for  bal- 
lads and  romances.  Two  of  her  small  ballads  are  the 
prettiest  I  know.  Her  husband  is  an  agreeable  man,  of 
very  cultivated  mind,  with  all  that  feeling  for  the  public 
well-being  which  distinguishes  the  American.  He  him- 
self is  a  celebrated  dentist,  and  a  member  of  an  associa- 
tion of  dentists,  into  which  he  is  now  endeavoring  to  in- 
troduce so  liberal  a  spirit,  that  all  beginners  and  imper- 
fect practitioners  may  be  admitted  free  of  cost  to  the  lec- 
tures and  experiments  of  the  association,  and  to  the  use 
of  their  instruments,  so  that  the  inferior  members  of  the 
profession  may  be  elevated  by  the  influence  and  ready 
co-operation  of  the  higher.  Mr.  T.  delivers  lectures  every 
week  gratis  to  young  practitioners.  "Leveling  upward" 
is  the  impelling  principle  also  with  him,  and  he  has  writ- 
ten an  excellent  treatise  upon  the  fundamental  idea  of 
this  association.  Association  is  the  natural  movement  of 
life  in  the  free  states. 

July  21st.  I  have  happened  during  these  last  few  days 
in  Philadelphia  to  fall  in  love — yes,  really  to  fall  despe- 
rately in  love — with  a  young  girl,  not  so  very  handsome, 
but  of  a  glorious  young- womanly  character  richly  endow- 
ed, both  soul  and  body,  with  that  spark  of  inspired  life 
which  is  so  enchanting  and  so  infinitely  revivifying ;  a  girl 
fresh  as  morning  dew,  and  who  sings  as  I  never  have 
heard  any  one  sing  since  her  who  has  long  since  ceased 


560  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

to  sing  on  earth,  yet  not  in  my  soul.  But  true  it  is  that 
she  was  Fanny  Kemble's  "pet,"  and  had  in  her  an  in- 
comparable instructress  in  declamation.  And  the  girl, 
the  glorious  girl,  the  girl  of  the  New  World,  whom  I  have 
for  the  first  time  seen  since  I  had  an  idea  of  her :  she  is 
called — But  no,  I  will  not  write  her  name;  I  feel  as  if 
that  would  desecrate  it,  and  she  is  to  me  holy.  I  could 
weep  when  I  think  that  such  a  girl  should  not  have  a 
different  fate  to  quiet,  ordinary  girls.  Such  a  young  wom- 
an ought  to  be  the  priestess  of  a  holy  temple,  and  de- 
liver oracles  to  the  world.  I  will  tell  you  more  about  her 
by  word  of  mouth.  She  has  called  to  life  in  my  imagin- 
ation a  figure  which  has  lain  bound  there  for  more  than 
fifteen  years. 

I  shall  set  off  to-day  to  New  York.  It  has  been  so  op- 
pressively hot  this  time  in  Philadelphia  that  I  have  not 
been  able  to  accomplish  much.  To-day  it  is  beautiful 
and  fresh  after  yesterday's  rain.  N.B. — That  was  the 
first  regular  shower  of  rain  which  I  had  seen  for  five 
months,  and  through  the  whole  of  that  time  I  had  not 
seen  one  entire  cloudy  day. 

I  now  cordially  rejoice  in  the  prospect  of  so  soon  seeing 
once  more  those  good,  excellent  friends  of  mine  at  Rose 
Cottage. 

Rose  Cottage,  July  24th. 
And  now  I  am  with  them,  as  happy  as  it  is  possible  for 
me  to  be  so  far  from  my  beloved ;  here  lam  with  this  be- 
loved, rose-colored  family,  always  alike  good,  alike  couleur 
de  rose;  and  all  my  friends  from  New  York  come  to  kiss 
me,  to  shake  hands  with  me,  and  to  say  "How  do  you 
do?"  Lively,  cordial,  fresh,  impulsive  people  are  these 
people  of  the  New  World ;  there  is  no  denying  that !  And 
your  letter,  among  dozens  of  others,  to  welcome  me  here ! 
But  ah !  that  it  should  be  so  cold  and  cheerless  with  you. 
It  is  very  unworthy  of  Madame  Svea  to  permit  such 
weather  in  June!     But  now,  now  you  must  have  sun- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  561 

shine  enough,  even  in  Sweden.  I  am  preparing  for  my 
homeward  journey,  but  am  out  of  breath  when  I  think 
of  all  I  have  yet  to  do  before  I  can  leave.  1  am  now  on 
my  way  to  Boston,  and  thence  to  the  White  Mountains, 
to  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont,  &c. 

I  commence  my  journey  in  the  morning,  going  from 
one  friend  to  another  the  whole  length  of  the  way.  But 
it  will  not  be  before  the  commencement  of  September 
that  I  can  be  ready  to  leave  America.  But  then  I  will 
leave  it.  Ah !  I  hardly  dare  to  think  about  it,  so  painful 
will  the  parting  be  to  me.  When  autumn  comes  in  Swe- 
den, then  shall  I  be  with  my  beloved  !  Mamma  must 
propitiate  St.  Brigitta,  that  she  give  me  a  prosperous  voy- 
age over  the  great  sea ! 

Great  changes  have  taken  place  around  Rose  Cottage 
and  its  peaceful  environs  since  I  was  last  there,  that  is  to 
say,  since  last  year.  Above  a  hundred  houses,  certainly, 
have  sprung  up  around  it  in  all  directions,  and  a  regular 
street  runs  now  in  front  of  its  little  park.  When  I  first 
came  to  Rose  Cottage,  it  stood  in  the  country ;  now  it  lies 
in  the  very  middle  of  the  city.  It  is  a  good  thing  that 
there  is  yet  a  deal  of  space,  and  many  trees  around  the 
house,  to  preserve  free  breathing-room. 


LETTER    XXXIX. 

Nahant,  Massachusetts,  August  1st. 
A  greeting  and  a  kiss  to  you,  my  Agathina,  on  this 
cool,  beautiful  Sunday  morning,  which  I  am  celebrating 
upon  a  rock  in  the  midst  of  the  sea,  surrounded  by  glit- 
tering, dancing  waves.  I  am  with  Mrs.  B.,  in  her  cottage 
at  Nahant,  a  little  bathing -place  a  few  miles  north  of 
Boston.  The  aristocracy  of  Boston  have  here  their  villas 
and  cottages,  where  they,  for  a  couple  of  months  in  the 
year,  enjoy  the  sea  air  or  bathing ;  and  here,  at  the  pres- 

A  a2 


562  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

ent  moment,  in  these  pretty  dwellings,  embowered  by  ver- 
dant, fragrant  plants  among  the  bare  rooks,  a  select  little 
party  is  assembled.  Here  is  that  splendid  old  Mrs.  L. 
(the  mother  of  Mrs.  B.)  in  her  cottage ;  here  is  Mr.  Pres- 
cott,  the  excellent  historian,  with  his  family ;  the  preacher 
Bellows,  from  New  York;  Mr.  Longfellow,  Mrs.  S.,  with 
several  other  interesting  persons,  and  the  intercourse  among 
them  is  easy  and  charming,  with  little  dinner-parties  or 
tea-suppers  in  the  evenings.  The  Americans  are  in  a  high 
degree  a  social  people,  and  they  do  not  like  to  shut  them- 
selves up,  or  to  shut  their  friends  out. 

I  came  hither  that  I  might  see  Mrs.  B.  again,  who  was 
so  infinitely  kind  to  me — came  hither  from  Boston,  where 
I  spent  a  week  with  my  excellent  friend,  Dr.  0.,  who, 
when  he  had  made  me  strong  as  his  patient,  made  me 
happy  as  his  guest  in  his  house,  where  I  had  merely  one 
standing  quarrel  with  him,  and  that  was  because  he  had 
not  earlier  made  me  acquainted  with  his  wife,  one  of 
those  happy,  amiable  characters,  who  are  a  fountain  of« 
joy  and  peace  to  all  who  surround  them.  Another  sin- 
gularly happy  and  affectionate  married  pair. 

I  made  two  small  excursions  from  Boston,  one  of  which 
was  to  Concord,  because  I  wished  to  see  Emerson  and 
Elizabeth  H.  once  more  before  leaving  America  forever. 
I  can  not  exactly  tell  why  I  wished  it,  but  my  soul  seem- 
ed to  require  it  of  me.  I  must  see  Emerson  yet  once 
more. 

I  reached  Concord  in  the  afternoon,  and  took  up  my 
quarters  with  Elizabeth  H.  "We  went  together  to  Emer- 
son's. They  were  both  from  home.  I  went  for  a  moment 
into  Emerson's  study,  a  large  room,  in  which  every  thing 
was  simple,  orderly,  unstudied,  comfortable.  No  refined 
feeling  of  beauty  has,  as  is  the  case  at  the  Downing's, 
converted  the  room  into  a  temple,  in  which  stand  the 
forms  of  the  heroes  of  science  and  literature.  Ornament 
is  banished  from  the  sanctuary  of  the  Stoic  philosopher ; 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  563 

the  furniture  is  comfortable,  but  of  a  grave  character, 
merely  as  implements  of  usefulness  ;  one  large  picture 
only  is  in  the  room,  but  this  hangs  there  with  a  command- 
ing power ;  it  is  a  large  oil  painting,  a  copy  of  Michael 
Angelo's  glorious  "  Parcae  ;"  the  goddesses  of  fate,  as  there 
represented,  are  not  horrible  ;  they  are  too  noble  and  beau- 
tiful for  that,  although  inflexible.  The  one,  in  particular, 
who  holds  the  thread  of  life  in  her  hand,  is  beautiful ;  she 
who  holds  the  shears  to  sever  the  thread,  looks  up  to  the 
former  with  a  questioning,  compassionate  expression,  and 
the  other  replies  by  a  smile  of  the  most  beautiful  assur- 
ance and  trust.  Mortal  can  not  gaze  upon  it  without  re- 
signing himself  with  confidence  to  the  hands  of  the  im- 
mortal maternal  powers. 

Upon  the  large  table  in  the  centre  of  the  room,  at  which 
Emerson  sits  and  writes,  just  opposite  the  picture,  lay  a 
number  of  papers,  but  all  in  perfect  order.  I  stood  silent 
for  a  moment  in  the  room.  Emerson's  spirit  seemed  to 
pervade  its  calm,  pure  atmosphere. 

In  the  evening  I  saw  Emerson  at  Elizabeth  H.'s.  He 
was  kind  and  bright,  like  himself  in  his  most  amiable 
mood.  I  was  to  leave  the  following  morning.  He  op- 
posed this,  however,  most  decidedly. 

u  Oh  no,  no,  you  must  not  think  of  that !"  said  he,  "  I 
have  been  proposing  to  myself  to  drive  you  to  one  of  our 
beautiful  little  forest  lakes  in  the  neighborhood,  and  then 
you  must  see  my  mother,  and  receive  her  blessing !" 

I  do  not  know  whether  I  have  told  you  that  Emerson 
has  a  mother,  in  whose  countenance  may  be  seen  many 
features  resembling  those  of  her  son.  The  old  mother 
was  now  confined  to  her  bed  in  consequence  of  a  fall,  by 
which  she  had  broken  her  leg. 

I  could  not  resist  Emerson's  kindness  and  these  words. 

The  following  day,  therefore,  he  called  for  me  in  a  cab- 
riolet, which  he  himself  drove,  and  took  me  by  the  love- 
liest forest  road  to  a  little  lake  which  lay  in  the  bosom  of 


564  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

the  forest,  like  a  clear,  oval  mirror  in  a*  dark  green  frame. 
The  place  looked  like  a  sanctuary  of  the  kindly  divinities 
of  nature. 

We  talked  a  deal  by  the  way  ;  for  I  am  always  excited 
to  conversation  with  Emerson  in  a  calm  and  agreeable 
manner.  The  topic  of  conversation  on  this  occasion  arose 
principally  from  my  asking  Emerson  whether  he  consid- 
ered the  intellectual  culture  of  the  New  England  States 
to  have  attained  its  acme,  and  if  we  might  not  see  in  these 
a  type  of  the  perfected  American  community  ?" 

"  By  no  means,"  replied  he  ;  "  there  are  at  this  time  a 
number  of  Germanisms  and  other  European  ideas,  nay, 
even  ideas  from  Asia,  which  are  now  for  the  first  time 
finding  their  way  into  the  life  of  mind,  and  which  will 
there  produce  new  developments  !" 

Emerson  evidently  considers  America  intended  to  pre- 
sent under  a  higher  metamorphosis  those  ideas,  which 
during  the  course  of  ages  have  been  prefigured  in  other 
parts  of  the  world. 

As  regarded  the  late  political  concessions  which  the 
Northern  States  made  to  the  slave  states,  the  right  of 
asylum  to  the  fugitive  slave,  he  expressed  him  in  strong 
disapprobation,  but  still  in  his  placid  manner. 

"Here  is  a  spring  famous  for  its  excellent  water,"  said 
Emerson,  as  he  pulled  up  near  some  lofty  trees  by  the 
road  side.     "May  I  give  you  a  glass?" 

I  thanked  him  in  the  affirmative,  and  he  alighted,  fas- 
tened the  reins  to  a  tree,  and  soon  returned  with  a  glass 
of  water  clear  as  crystal  from  the  spring. 

A  glass  of  water!  How  much  may  be  comprised  in 
this  gift.  Why  this  should  become  significant  to  me  on 
this  occasion  I  can  not  say,  but  so  it  was.  I  have  silently 
within  myself  combated  with  Emerson  from  the  first  time 
that  I  became  acquainted  with  him.  I  have  questioned 
with  myself  in  what  consisted  this  power  of  the  spirit  over 
me,  while  I  so  much  disapproved  of  his  mode  of  thinking, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  5G5 

when  there  was  so  much  in  him  which  was  unsatisfactory 
to  me ;  in  what  consisted  his  mysterious  magical  power 
— that  invigorating,  refreshing  influence,  which  I  always 
experience  in  his  writings,  or  in  intercourse  with  him? 
This  cordial  draught  of  clear  water  from  the  spring,  given 
by  his  hand,  I  understood  it.  It  is  precisely  this  crystal, 
pure,  fresh  cold  water  in  his  individual  character,  in  his 
writings,  which  has  refreshed,  and  will  again  and  yet  again 
refresh  me. 

I  have  opposed  Emerson  in  thought  with  myself,  and 
in  conversation  with  others  who  have  blindly  admired 
him.  I  shall  oppose  him  also  in  public,  from  the  convic- 
tion wTithin  my  own  soul  of  the  highest  justice  and  truth. 
But  in  long  years  to  come,  and  when  I  am  far  from  here, 
in  my  own  native  land,  and  when  I  am  old  and  gray,  yes, 
always,  always  will  moments  recur  when  I  shall  yearn 
toward  Waldo  Emerson,  and  long  to  receive  from  his  hand 
that  draught  of  fresh  water.  For  wine,  warmth-infusing, 
life-renovating  wine,  I  would  go  to  another. 

Emerson  baptizes  in  water ;  another  there  is  who  bap- 
tizes with  the  Spirit  and  with  fire. 

I  left  Emerson  with  an  unmingled  sentiment  of  grat- 
itude for  what  he  has  been  to  me.  I  may  perhaps  see 
other  more  beautiful  and  more  perfect  forms,  but  never 
shall  I  see  his  equal  again. 

During  my  stay  in  Concord  I  again  enjoyed  my  inter- 
course with  the  intellectual,  profoundly  thinking  and  feel- 
ing Elizabeth  H.  I  also  again  saw  Mrs.  Channing,  the 
younger  sister  of  Margaret  Fuller,  now  looking  ten  years 
older,  so  much  had  sorrow  for  the  tragical  fate  of  her 
highly  -  gifted  sister  weighed  upon  the  young  wife  and 
mother. 

I  made  another  excursion  from  Boston,  in  company  with 
the  kind  Miss  P.,  to  visit  a  seminary  for  teachers  at  "West 
Newton,  established  by  Horace  Mann,  as  well  as  to  greet 
once  more  and  see  Lydia  Maria  Child,  who  now  resides  in 


566        homes'  of  the  new  world. 

the  neighborhood  of  the  seminary.  I  was  present  at  a 
lesson  in  the  institution,  at  which  from  fifty  to  sixty  young 
girls  who  are  preparing  themselves  for  instructors  were 
present.  One  of  them  ascended  the  lecturer's  chair,  the 
others  being  seated  on  benches  in  the  large,  light,  airy  hall. 
The  subject  of  the  lesson  was  the  form  of  government 
of  the  United  States,  in  which  she  examined  the  others. 
The  young  teacher  was  handsome,  with  every  appearance 
of  a  gentlewoman,  and  with  an  extremely  agreeable  de- 
portment and  manner.  When  she  descended  from  her  ele- 
vated seat,  the  others  were  encouraged  to  criticise  her  ob- 
servations, or  to  point  out  any  particulars  in  which  she 
appeared  to  be  in  error.  Several  voices  were  raised  in  ob- 
servation, one  remarking  that  she  had  left  the  chair  with- 
out any  sign  of  acknowledgment  to  her  audience.  The 
young  girl  who  took  her  place  had  a  very  different  man- 
ner, was  not  so  handsome,  nor  so  much  perhaps  of  the  gen- 
tlewoman about  her,  but  she  was  'more  ardent,  more  de- 
cided, and  was  evidently  possessed  of  more  than  usual 
abilities.  The  subject  of  her  lesson  and  examination  was 
geographical  statistics,  and  she  gave  it  with  a  liveliness 
which  gave  animation  to  her  whole  audience.  She  too 
descended,  and  was  criticised  in  her  turn.  In  this  way  the 
young  female  teacher  is  early  accustomed  to  the  usual 
consequences  of  publicity,  and  is  early  accustomed  to  pay 
that  attention  to  herself  in  all  respects  which  is  so  import- 
ant, especially  for  the  school-teacher.  The  outward  de- 
meanor also,  their  movements,  their  gait,  &c,  all  are  sub- 
jects of  observation  and  attention.  Nothing  must  be  al- 
lowed in  the  teacher  which  disgusts  or  excites  ridicule  in 
the  scholar.  Great  numbers  of  young  teachers  are  sent 
hence  to  the  west  and  south  of  this  vast  country,  where 
they  are  soon  engaged  by  schools  or — lovers. 

After  that  I  saw  Horace  Mann,  the  hopeful,  meritorious 
man  of  education  for  the  rising  generation,  and  his  agree- 
able young  wife,  at  their  cottage.     I  wished  to  have  had 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  567 

with  him  some  earnest  conversation  on  the  insufficiency 
of  schools  as  educational  institutions,  but  I  forgot  myself 
in  Lydia  Ma?ia  Child's  home  and  company,  until  the  rail- 
road train  was  just  about  setting-off,  and  I  must  return  to 
Boston. 

That  noble  and  refined  woman  and  gifted  authoress  lives 
here  on  a  little  farm,  not  much  unlike  a  Swedish  peasant's 
wife,  and  not  in  her  proper  element.  A  pretty  little  Span- 
ish child,  one  of  the  many  whom  Lydia  Maria  Child  had 
rescued  from  want,  lives  here  with  her  and  for  her  in  heart- 
felt love.  Friends  surround  her  with  affectionate  solici- 
tude. In  North  America,  less  than  any  where  else,  need 
people  be  solitary  or  neglected,  unless  they  deserve  to  be 
so ;  and  they  who  deserve  many  friends  find  them  also. 

During  my  stay  in  Boston  I  have  been  much  interested 
by  the  new  drawing-school  for  women,  similar  to  that  at 
Philadelphia,  which  is  about  to  be  established  there  by  a 
Mr.  Whiteacre,  from  London — a  man  with  all  the  philan- 
thropy of  England  in  his  eyes.  Many  respectable  and 
wealthy  men  are  ready  to  aid  in  this  institution  by  every 
means  in  their  power,  from  the  interest  they  take  in  the 
future  prospects  of  young  women.  I  was  present  during 
a  lesson  given  in  the  school,  and  rejoiced  heartily  in  the 
prospects  which  these  schools  open  for  thousands  of  young 
women,  and  for  the  beautifying  prospects  of  life  in  general. 
I  think  of  Sweden  and  Swedish  girls,  Swedish  drawing- 
schools,  Swedish  art  and  manufactures,  and  grow  enthusi- 
astic with  many  thoughts  for  the  future. 

It  is  now  in  Boston  so  cold  and  so  cheerless  with  rain 
as  I  have  not  found  it  during  the  summer.  Ever  since 
the  eclipse  of  the  sun  the  other  day,  it  has  been  as  cloudy 
and  cold  as  with  us  in  October.  This  American  climate 
leaps  continually  from  one  extreme  to  another.  I  am  as 
cold  as  in  winter.  In  other  respects  I  am  more  vigorous 
than  I  have  ever  been  since  I  left  home,  and  I  need  be  so 
to  do  all  which  I  have  now  to  do.     Thus,  for  instance,  I 


568  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

have  been  to-day  in  motion,  and  engaged  in  conversation 
from  seven  this  morning  till  half  past  eleven  at  night,  at 
five  different  places,  some  in  and  some  out  of  Boston,  with 
different  persons,  with  whom  I  have  to  enter  into  interest- 
ing conversations  on  theology,  art,  politics,  &c,  with  gen- 
tlemen at  home,  on  all  these  subjects;  but  this  amuses 
rather  than  wearies  me.  Among  my  more  intimate  ac- 
quaintance in  Boston  during  the  last  winter,  I  have  again 
met  with  an  interesting  lady,  a  Miss  Parsons,  of  wegk 
physical  constitution,  but  of  an  unusually  beautiful  soul ; 
that  is  to  say,  she  is  clairvoyant  without  sleeping,  and  can 
give  the  contents  of  a*  letter,  or  the  character  and  state  of 
the  writer,  merely  by  holding  the  letter  closed  in  her  hands, 
or  pressing  it  upon  her  forehead.  I  would  not  believe  in 
this  species  of  clairvoyance  at  first,  but  have  been  obliged 
to  believe  in  it  after  I  had  placed  a  letter  from  you  in 
Swedish  in  her  hand,  without  her  having  beforehand  any 
knowledge  of  who  had  written  the  letter,  or  any  thing 
about  you.  Besides  which,  her  character  is  far  above  any 
thing  of  charlatanism.  But  this  clear-sighted  soul  lives 
at  the  expense  of  the  body,  which  becomes,  as  it  were, 
more  and  more  transparent  and  spirit-like. 

At  the  house  of  my  good  doctor  I  have  again  seen  many 
of  my  dear  Boston  friends,  and  made  some  new  and  in- 
teresting acquaintances,  among  whom  is  the  Unitarian 
minister,  Dr.  Garratt. 

Monday.  I  heard  in  Nahant  church  yesterday  an  ex- 
cellent sermon  by  Mr.  Bellows — one  of  those  beautiful  dis-  > 
courses  from  the  very  centre  of  Christianity — such  a  one 
as  ought  to  be  preached  by  the  sea,  the  great  sea  in  which 
all  the  individual  waves  rise  and  sink  as  in  one  general 
maternal  bosom — as  all  separate  Christian  sects  and  creeds 
in  the  ocean  of  Christian  love. 

I  had  in  the  evening  the  great  pleasure  of  conversing 
with  two  cultivated  and  thinking  women  of  my  acquaint- 
ance about  the  ladies  of  America — of  that  deficiency  of 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  569 

many-sided  development,  that  deficiency  of  instinct  for  the 
higher  human  interests,  and  of  that  want  of  the  ability  for 
conversation  which  is  found  in  so  great  a  number.  These 
amiable  ladies,  themselves  distinguished  in  all  respects, 
agree  with  me  in  many  of  my  observations,  and,  like  my- 
self, can  not  see  any  means  of  alleviating  these  deficien- 
cies, excepting  by  a  more  thorough  system  of  cultivation, 
a  more  broad  and  general  development  of  mind  ;  and 
many  are  the  signs  which  will  make  this  inevitable,  if 
woman  will  maintain  the  esteem  of  their  own  sex  as  well 
as  that  of  the  men.  Men  have  in  general,  at  this  time, 
more  gallantry  than  actual  esteem  for  women.  They  are 
polite  to  them,  ready  to  comply  with  their  wishes;  but 
they  regard  them  evidently  more  as  pretty  children  than 
as  their  reasonable  equals,  and  do  not  give  them  their 
society  when  they  seek  strengthening  food  for  soul  and 
thought.  The  many  beautiful  examples  which  one  meets 
of  an  opposite,  of  a  perfect  relationship  between  the  two 
sexes,  can  not  be  said  to  belong  to  the  rule.  Women  are, 
it  is  true,  rulers  in  the  home  and  in  social  life,  but  that 
is  frequently  rather  through  their  weaknesses  than  their 
virtues. 

We  spake  of  the  signs  which  are  indicative  of  the  ap- 
proach of  a  better  state  of  things.  We  saw  it  by  degrees 
gradually  advancing  in  the  public  consciousness,  and  we 
marked  also,  as  the  forerunner  of  this,  the  Rights  of  Wom- 
an Conventions,  which  have  now  been  held  annually  for 
some  years  in  the  Northern  States.  The  holding  of  these 
Conventions  is  a  movement  of  transition,  which  will  cease 
of  itself  when  the  end  is  attained.  Many  true  and  pro- 
found thoughts  were  expressed  in  the  last  great  Conven- 
tion which  was  held  last  year  in  Massachusetts,  and  at 
which  thousands  of  both  men  and  women  were  present; 
excellent  speeches  were  delivered,  beautiful  speeches,  wor- 
thy of  those  distinguished  speakers. 

Among  these  thoughts  I  in  particular  remember  what 


570  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

was  said  on  the  life  and  culture  of  past  ages  in  compari- 
son with  those  of  the  present  time. 

Occupations  and  objects  in  life  do  not  now  separate  the 
sexes,  as  was  the  case  formerly.  Man,  except  only  in  oc- 
casional instances,  does  not  now  live  for  the  warlike  pro- 
fession ;  he  does  not  now  practice,  above  every  thing  else, 
strength  of  body  and  achievements  of  arms ;  the  two  sexes 
have,  in  a  more  spiritual  sphere  of  life,  come  nearer  to  each 
other  in  the  home  and  in  social  life.  "Woman  becomes 
more  and  more  the  companion  and  helpmate  of  man;  his 
powers  of  soul  will  be  crippled  or  elevated  in  proportion 
as  he  finds  in  her  that  which  retards  or  animates  them. 
And  the  circumscribing  of  her  development  will  operate 
unfavorably  upon  himself. 

This  was  said,  but  far  better  than  I  have  said  it,  by 
Mrs.  Paulina  Davis,  the  lovely  president  of  the  Conven- 
tion, that  pale  lady  with  the  noble  features  and  expression 
of  countenance,  and  the  rich  golden  hair,  whom  I  saw  at 
my  good  female  doctor's,  Miss  H. 

The  women  of  America  have,  as  I  have  already  said, 
their  noblest  types  in  the  best  of  the  American  women. 
Nowhere  can  be  found  greater  steadfastness  to  duty,  or 
more  energy  of  character  united  to  greater  gentleness  and 
grace. 

I  have  here  greatly  enjoyed  the  pure,  fresh  sea -air, 
amid  quiet  social  intercourse  with  kind  and  cultivated 
people,  under  circumstances  which  combined  enjoyment 
with  all  the  charms  and  comforts  of  life.  -The  "  cottage" 
of  the  New  World  is  a  type  of  the  pretty  and  the  conven- 
ient united.  Nature  and  art  unite  here  to  man.  The 
veranda  which  runs  round  the  house,  with  its  leafy  and 
flowery  creepers,  shadowy  and  fragrant,  affords  the  most 
beautiful  place  for  the  quiet  enjoyment,  as  well  of  nature 
as  of  society,  during  the  most  lovely  weather. 

I  had  imagined  Prescott,  the  historian,  to  be  an  old 
man,  bent  down  by  study  and  labor,  during  which  he  had 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  57 1 

become  almost  blind.  I  could  scarcely-  believe  my  eyes 
when,  on  the  contrary,  I  found  in  him  a  tall  and  lively 
gentleman,  with  far  more  of  the  youth  than  of  the  aged 
thinker  in  his  appearance  and  manner.  His  conversation 
and  manners  denote  genius ;  they  are  full  of  life. 

We  have  now  moonlight,  and  our  drives  in  the  even- 
ings along  the  sea-shore,  while  the  waves  are  foaming 
and  roaring,  are  a  great  enjoyment.  Mrs.  B.  is  one  of  the 
most  delightful  of  hostesses,  and  with  little  Julia — ah ! 
they  who  have  such  a  little  girl ! 

White  Mountains,  New  Hampshire,  August  10th. 

Again  several  pleasant  days  have  passed  since  I  last 
wrote  you  from  Nahant. 

I  went  from  Nahant  to  Salem  on  the  8th  of  this  month, 
and  at  the  house  of  the  mayor  there,  Mr.  S.,  was  in  com- 
pany with,  and  shooks  hands  with  between  fifty  and  sixty 
Salemites,  among  whom  were  some  very  pretty  young 
witches,  and  some  very  kind  friends  of  mine. 

The  next  morning,  rush  went  we — my  clever  and 
agreeable  hostess,  Mr.  S.,  and  myself — from  Salem  to 
Boston,  to  see  several  persons  ;  to  be  present  at  a  lesson 
at  Mr.  Whiteacre's  drawing-school,  and  at  another  at  Mr. 
Barnard's  phonographic  school  for  little  girls,  who  all  con- 
ducted themselves  like  so  many  little  miracles  ;  to  see 
Mrs.  H.,  of  Belmont,  near  Charlestown,  yet  once  more, 
ah !  for  the  last  time ;  then  back  to  the  O.'s  to  write  notes, 
see  people,  arrange  meetings,  take  leave,  and  a  deal  more ; 
then  rushed  back  again  by  rail-way  to  Salem  to  dinner 
and  evening  parties  ;  then  one  day  to  write,  and,  compar- 
atively speaking,  to  rest,  amid  quiet  calls,  promenades, 
and  conversation  about  the  witch-trials  at  Salem  in  the 
year  1692,  during  which  trials  the  same  species  of  phe- 
nomena were  exhibited  as  those  which  appeared  among 
us  in  Dalecarlia  a  few  years  ago.  Even  in  the  free  state 
of  the  Pilgrims  a  considerable  number  of  innocent  per- 
sons, especially  women,  were  suspected  of  witchcraft, 


572  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

imprisoned,  tortured,  and  several  of  them  were  put  to 
death. 

We  are  now,  thank  God !  so  far  removed  from  such 
horrible  scenes — more,  however,  by  spirit  than  by  time — 
that  we  speak  of  them  as  we  speak  of  mad-house  scenes, 
and  make  merry  with  them  when  we  are  in  good-humor. 

This  was  done  last  year  in  the  city  of  Salem,  on  the 
great  American  day,  the  4th  of  July.  They  celebrated  it 
by  a  grand  historical,  humorous  procession,  in  which  also 
witch-trials,  with  their  dramatis  personce,  both  witches 
and  judges,  were  introduced,  in  grotesque,  old-fashioned 
costume. 

Among  the  historical  tableaux  of  the  procession  was  a 
series  also  which  exhibited  the  progress  made  in  the  means 
of  communication  within  the  last  fifty  years.  First  came 
a  horseman,  riding  slowly  along,  with  the  following  in- 
scription: "From  Salem  to  Boston  in  forty-eight  hours' 
time."  Then  came  an  old,  heavy  diligence,  with  the  in- 
scription "  From  Salem  to  Boston  in  twelve  hours'  time." 
After  them  came  a  rail-way  train,  inscribed,  "  From  Salem 
to  Boston  in  l\alf  an  hour ;"  and  lastly  an  iron  wire  of  the 
electric  telegraph,  inscribed,  "  From  Salem  to  Boston  in 
no  time  at  all !"  The  whole  of  the  historical  procession 
seemed  to  me  one  of  the  cleverest,  most  ingenious,  and 
amusing  popular  festivals  which  I  ever  heard  of,  and 
seemed  to  have  caused  the  greatest  delight.  The  New 
"World,  which  is  altogether  deficient  in  traditional  popular 
festivals  (with  the  exception  of  the  beautiful  Thanksgiv- 
ing festival),  seems  to  have  begun  a  new  series  of  such, 
of  a  more  rational  purport,  and  with  more  food  for  sound 
thought  and  sentiment  than  the  European  popular  amuse- 
ments, which  are  often  utterly  devoid  of  meaning.  Among 
the  American  festivals  I  have  heard  some  very  beautiful 
ones  mentioned  :  the  so-called  Floral-feasts,  in  the  months 
of  May  and  June,  which  seem  to  me  like  lovely  children 
of  the  spirit  of  the  New  World.     But  still,  working-days 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  573 

are  in  this  country  so  supreme,  that  people  are  hardly 
able  to  occupy  themselves  with  festivals,  at  least  the  prod- 
uct of  a  self-conscious,  developed  popular  life. 

On  the  7th  of  August  I  left  Salem  for  the  White  Mount- 
ains, in  company  with  Mrs.  S.  and  her  young  son.  Her 
voluntary  offer  to  be  my  companion  on  this  excursion  was 
particularly  agreeable  to  me,  because  I  like  her  manners 
and  her  society,  and  I  can,  while  I  make  this  journey  with 
her,  avoid  great  parties  and  great  companies,  and  can  go 
about  in  freedom  among  the  mountains,  the  waterfalls, 
and  the  forests,  and  see  every  thing  as  I  wish  to  see  it,  in 
the  quietest  and  the  most  agreeable  manner  in  the  world. 

The  first  day's  journey  was  to  the  Shaker  community 
at  Canterbury,  by  the  Merrimac  River  in  New  Hamp- 
shire, which  I  wished  to  visit,  that  I  might  see  its  Bo- 
tanic harden,  and  become  somewhat  better  acquainted 
with  this  remarkable  sect.  I  had  letters  to  the  chief  fam- 
ily of  this  Shaker  community  from  my  little  ladies'  doc- 
tor in  Boston,  Miss  H.,  who  was  frequently  called  in  here 
as  physician.  We  went  by  rail-way  into  New  Hamp- 
shire, but  left  it  again  in  a  forest,  where  we  were  to  take 
a  carriage  which  should  convey  us  to  the  Shaker  village  at 
some  miles'  distance.  After  various  small  misadventures, 
we  obtained  a  cart  in  which  was  a  seat,  on  which  Mrs.  S. 
and  I  could  sit,  our  driver  sitting  half  on  a  little  package 
and  half  on  our  knees.  Thus  proceeded  we  leisurely  with 
a  leisurely  horse,  along  heavy,  sandy  roads,  through  the 
forest.  It  began  to  rain,  first  very  small,  then  thicker 
and  faster.  We  hoisted  our  umbrellas,  and  sat  patiently 
for  between  two  and  three  hours.  Very  glad,  however, 
were  we  when  at  length  we  perceived  through  the  vail  of 
rain  the  cheerful,  yellow,  two-storied  houses  of  the  Shak- 
er village  shining  out  on  the  green  hills  through  the  rain, 
at  some  distance  from  us. 

Pretty  much  like  wet  hens,  we  descended  from  our 
cart,  and  soon  a  hospitable  door  was  opened  to  us,  and 


574  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

two  young  sisters,  with  gentle,  pale  countenances,  led  us 
into  a  great  chamber,  where  every  thing  was  neat  and 
delicate,  and  rubbed  as  bright  as  in  a  doll's  house.  I 
produced  my  letter,  and  immediately  saw  its  good  effect 
in  an  increased  kindliness,  and  by  the  cordial  manner  in 
which  Harriet  H.  was  inquired  after. 

It  was  late  when  we  arrived.  The  kind  sisters  gave 
us  tea,  with  excellent  bread  and  butter,  preserves,  &c, 
and  at  my  request  sang  the  while  some  of  their  spiritual 
songs.  Their  manner  was  tranquil,  and,  though  not 
cheerful,  had  a  heartfelt  gentleness  and  serenity  in  it. 
After  this  evening  meal  we  were  conducted  to  our  cham- 
bers, two  large,  light  rooms,  where  nothing  was  unneces- 
sarily ornamental,  but  where  every  thing  was  neat  and 
convenient.  Sister  Lavinia  took  us  particularly  under  her 
charge. 

Some  streaks  of  light  in  the  west  at  sunset  had  led  me 
to  hope  for  a  bright  morrow,  and  they  did  not  deceive  me. 
The  brightest  of  suns  shone  the  next  morning  over  the 
Shaker  dwellings,  and  the  pastoral,  pleasing  country  which 
surrounded  them,  and  a  considerable  portion  of  which  be- 
longed to  their  community.  Not  a  single  dwelling  except 
their  own  was  to  be  seen  in  that  solitary  region ;  and  the 
whole  scene  which  more  immediately  surrounded  these 
was  altogether  as  quiet  and  as  orderly  as  if  a  life  of  labor 
did  not  exist  there.  It  was  altogether  so  calm  and  silent 
that  it  almost  struck  the  mind  as  something  spiritual. 

After  breakfast,  which  the  sisters  served  in  an  excellent 
and  bountiful  manner,  we  were  asked  if  we  would  like 
to  see  the  school,  and  on  answering  in  the  affirmative,  we 
were  conducted  into  a  spacious  hall,  in  which  about  twen- 
ty little  well-dressed  girls  were  receiving  instruction  from 
a  female  teacher.  This  teacher,  whom  I  will  call  Dora, 
was  still  quite  young,  and  of  singular  beauty,  neither  had 
her  complexion  that  paleness  so  common  among  women 
of  this  community ;  her  oheeks  were  fresh  as  the  blush  of 


HOLIES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  575 

morning,  and  more  beautiful  eyes  than  hers  I  never  be- 
held. 

She  allowed  the  little  girls  to  show  us  one  of  their  sym- 
bolic games.  They  placed  themselves  in  a  wide  circle, 
each  one  standing  at  three  or  four  paces  distant  from  the 
other.  They  then  began  little  verses,  which,  though  I  can 
not  give  literally  accurate,  were  in  substance  as  follows : 

Must  I  here  alone  be  standing, 
Having  none  that  I  can  love  ; 
Having  none  my  friend  to  be, 
None  who  will  grow  fond  of  me  1 

On  this  each  little  girl  approached  the  one  nearest  to 
her,  and,  taking  each  other's  hands,  they  laid  them  upon 
their  hearts  and  sung 

Nay,  my  sister,  come  thou  nearer, 
And  I  will  to  thee  be  dearer, 

Be  to  thee  a  faithful  friend ; 
I  will  share  with  thee  thy  sadness ; 
Thou  shalt  share  with  me  my  gladness  ! 

With  this  the  children  all  took  hold  of  hands,  and  slow- 
ly moving  round  in  a  circle,  repeated  the  while  these  last 
words,  or  something  like  them;  and  in  so  doing,  approach- 
ed nearer  and  nearer  together,  wove  their  arms  round  each 
other  like  a  garland  of  flowers,  then  sunk  upon  their  knees, 
singing  the  while  a  hymn,  the  first  verse  of  which  was 

Heavenly  Father,  look  down  in  mercy 

On  this  little  flock, 

United  in  thy  name  ! 
Give  us  of  thy  Holy  Spirit,  &c. 

While  singing  this  hymn,  and  while  still  upon  their 
knees,  the  children  all  kissed  each  other,  after  which  they 
rose  up  and  separated.  The  beautiful  symbolic  meaning 
contained  in  the  whole  game,  its  simplicity,  and  the  beau- 
tiful grace  with  which  it  was  performed ;  the  thought  of 
the  difference  in  the  spirit  of  this  game  to  the  bitter  real- 
ity of  many  a  solitary  existence  in  the  great  community 


576  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

■ 

of  the  world,  affected  me  deeply;  I  could  not  refrain  from 
weeping.  Mrs.  S.  was  also  very  much  affected.  From 
this  moment  the  Shaker  sisters  were  our  friends  and  sis- 
ters, and  embraced  us  with  the  greatest  cordiality.  An- 
other beautiful  song,  worthy  of  serious  attention,  was  sung 
very  well  by  the  children.  It  began,  "  Speak  gently,"  and 
showed  in  several  stanzas  the  effect  of  a  gentle  word.  A 
song  it  was  which  all  children  ought  to  learn,  and  all  grown 
people  commit  to  memory. 

It  was  an  unexpected  thing  to  me  to  meet  with  children 
here  well  practiced  also  in  grammar,  writing,  arithmetic, 
geography,  and  other  ordinary  branches  of  learning.  As 
a  reward  for,  and  an  inducement  to  industry  and  good  be- 
havior, they  receive  small  colored  cards,  printed  with  prov- 
erbs or  exhortations,  among  which  an  occasional  spur  to  a 
praiseworthy  ambition  was  not  wanting. 

From  the  school  we  went  to  the  room  where  the  fine 
weaving  was  done,  for  which  this  Shaker  community  is 
celebrated. 

We  saw  in  one  room  a  knitting-machine,  which  knit 
with  its  own  hand  woolen  jackets,  and  could  produce  three 
in  a  shorter  time  than  would  be  required  for  two  pair  of 
human  hands  to  complete  one.  This  machine,  which  seem- 
ed almost  entirely  to  go  on  by  itself,  looked  very  curious, 
and  almost  like  an  enchanted  thing. 

We  next  paid  a  visit  to  the  dairy,  and  to  the  room  in 
which  cheese-making  was  done,  and  which  a  number  of 
fresh  colossal  cheeses  testified  of  the  good  condition  of  the 
dairy-farm  and  all  that  appertained  to  it.  The  handsome, 
clever  sister  who  managed  this  department  was  so  fond 
of  her  employment,  that,  although  she  might  have  ex- 
changed it  for  another,  she  had  not  done  so,  and  had  now 
been  engaged  in  it  for  several  years.  From  the  dairy  we 
proceeded  to  the  kitchen,  where  I  saw  six  blooming,  hand- 
some young  girls  employed  as  kitchen-maids ;  they  were 
at  this  moment  employed  in  baking  large  pies.     These 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  577 

young  girls  were  blooming  as  roses,  and  were  ready  to 
burst  out  into  the  gayest  laughter  when  one  gave  them 
any  occasion  to  do  so. 

"  Look  well  after  those  sisters,"  said  I,  jokingly,  to  the 
Sister  President.  And  the  six  handsome  girls  laughed  so 
loudly  and  merrily  that  it  was  a  pleasure  to  hear  them. 

From  the  medical  garden,  in  which  sarsaparilla  and  va- 
rious other  beneficial  herbs  are  cultivated,  we  went  to  the 
house  where  they  were  picked  and  kept,  and  where  rose- 
water  was  being  just  now  distilled. 

Finally,  we  were  conducted  into  the  sewing-room,  and 
which  is  at  the  same  time  the  apartment  in  which  the 
aged  sit  together.  Here,  in  this  large,  light,  clean  room, 
they  sat  in  light-colored,  and,  for  the  most  part,  white 
clothing,  and  with  bright,  kindly  countenances  also.  There 
now  assembled  a  great  number  of  the  sisters  round  us,  and 
we  had  conversation  and  singing,  and  I  read  aloud  to  the 
sisters,  by  their  desire,  a  Swedish  psalm.  I  selected  the 
one  beginning,  "  I  will  lift  up  mine  eyes  with  the  hills  from 
whence  cometh  my  help,"  which  they  thought  sounded 
quite  proper,  and  we  joined  them  in  singing  various  of 
their  hymns,  which  were  very  beautiful,  the  time  of  which 
was  marked,  as  is  customary  with  them,  by  the  waving 
of  their  hands.  After  that  I  made  a  sketch  of  Sister  Dora, 
who  consented  on  condition  that  I  should  not  publish  her 
name,  "because,"  said  the  sister,  mildly,  "we  are  not  ac- 
customed to  such  things."  Dora  belongs  to  the  Church- 
family  of  the  community,  and  has  had  "inspiration,"  it  is 
said.  Of  a  truth,  a  more  thankful,  inspired  glance  than 
hers  I  never  beheld.  And  her  pure  beauty  charmed  me 
still  more  as  I  sketched  that  noble,  refined  profile.  I  made 
a  sketch  also  of  Lavinia.  She  had  not  Dora's  severe  style 
of  beauty,  but,  on  the  contrary,  the  gentlest  grace. 

I  can  not  tell  you  how  much  I  liked  all  that  I  saw  of 
this  little  community  during  the  whole  of  this  day,  or  how 
admirable  appeared  to  me  the  order  and  the  neatness  of 

Vol.  II.— B  b 


578  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

every  thing,  from  the  sisters  themselves  to  every  thing 
which  came  under  their  hands.  The  male  portion  of  the 
community  were  busied  with  the  harvest,  and  I  saw  mere- 
ly a  few  representatives  of  them.  These  seemed  to  me  to 
have  either  a  gloomy,  almost  fanatical  expression,  or  to 
have  very  well-fed  bodies  without  any  spiritual  expression 
at  all.  The  good  sisters,  who  now  regarded  us  as  their 
friends,  gave  us  many  presents  from  their  stores  of  valu- 
able wares,  implements  of  the  work-box,  fragrant  waters, 
cakes  of  maple-tree  sugar,  &c.  And  when,  on  the  follow- 
ing day,  we  wished  to  pay  for  our  entertainment,  they  re- 
plied, "We  never  take  payment  from  our  friends!"  Nor 
would  they  receive  the  slightest  sum. 

A  spacious  traveling-carriage,  with  several  seats,  drawn 
by  two  fat  horses,  and  driven  by  a  stout  Shaker  brother, 
whom  no  Shaker  dancing  had  been  able  to  render  less  fat 
and  jolly,  made  their  appearance,  and  some  of  the  sisters 
said  that,  as  it  was  good  for  their  health  to  take  a  little 
exercise  in  the  open  air,  they  would  drive  with  us  to  the 
rail-way  station.  A  politeness  could  not  possibly  have 
been  done  in  a  more  delicate  or  handsome  manner. 

And  now  behold  us  seated  on  our  buffalo  skins,  Mrs.  S. 
between  two  Shaker  sisters,  and  myself  between  two  oth- 
ers, one  of  whom  was  the  mild  Lavinia,  with  two  others 
seated  behind  us.  We  thus  took  our  way  through  the 
forest,  while  the  Shaker  brother,  a  good-tempered,  merry 
fellow,  and  the  sisters  sung  spiritual  songs,  some  of  which 
were  very  characteristic,  as,  for  instance, 

Ye  trees  and  shrubs  be  dancing, 

Ye  rivers  rise  on  high, 
The  Prince  of  Peace  is  advancing,  &c. 

In  this  style  we  drove  seven  English  miles,  and  in  this 
style  we  arrived  at  the  rail- way  station.  And  here  the 
sisters  remained  with  us  till  the  train  came,  amused  by 
looking  over  the  portraits  and  sketches  in  my  sketching 
books.     As  to  paying  any  thing  for  our  journey  hither, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  579 

that  was  not  to  be  thought  of;  "the  sisters  required  ex- 
ercise, and  it  had  been  a  pleasure  for  them  to  be  with 
us,"  &c.  It  would  not  have  been  possible  for  people  to 
behave  with  more  naturally  perfect  politeness  than  the 
Shaker  sisters  behaved  toward  us.  "We  separated  with 
cordial  shaking  of  hands.  Many  of  these  sisters  evident- 
ly did  not  enjoy  good  health.  I  ascribe  this  less  to  their 
sedentary  life  than  to  their  diet,  which  I  do  not  believe 
to  be  wholesome.  The  eating  of  so  much  greasy  pastry 
would  be  injurious  to  the  soundest  health  in  the  country. 

The  Shaker  community  of  Canterbury  consists  of  about 
five  hundred  persons.  There  are  here  a  vast  many  more 
fine  and  beautiful  countenances  among  the  young  women 
than  in  the  community  of  New  Lebanon.  The  costume 
was  the  same,  and  the  customs  the  same  also.  Amon^ 
their  customs  is  that  of  using  the  pronouns  "thee"  and 
"thou"  as  with  the  Quakers;  and  "yea"  and  "nay" 
instead  of  "yes"  and  "no."  They  lay  great  stress  upon 
a  friendly  and  kind  behavior  toward  each  other  in  word 
and  deed.  They  endeavor  in  their  large  families  to  cre- 
ate that  life  of  love  which  is  the  most  beautiful  flower  of 
the  lesser  family.  Work,  and  prayer,  and  mutual  good 
offices  are  the  business  of  their  daily  life. 

I  have  already  described  to  you  the  form  of  govern- 
ment which  prevails  in  these  small  communities. 

The  Shaker  community  of  Canterbury  derives  its  prin- 
cipal income  from  its  farming  produce,  its  preparation  of 
medicinal  herbs  for  the  pharmacopoeia,  and  the  weaving 
of  woolen  goods. 

The  Shaker  communities  are  the  most  rational,  and 
probably  the  happiest  of  all  conventual  institutions.  I 
should  be  glad  if  similar  ones  were  found  in  all  countries. 
People  may  say  what  they  will,  and  do  the  best  they  can 
in  the  great  community,  but  there  will  always  exist  the 
need  of  places  where  the  shipwrecked  in  life,  the  wearied 
of  life,  the  solitary  and  feeble,  may  escape  as  to  a  refuge, 


580  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

and  where  their  good- will  and  their  powers  of  labor  may, 
under  a  wise  and  affectionate  management,  be  turned  to 
account ;  where  the  children  of  misfortune  or  misery  may 
be  brought  up  in  purity  and  love;  where  men  and  women 
may  meet  and  associate  as  brethren  and  sisters  in  good- 
will and  friendship,  laboring  all  for  the  benefit  and  advant- 
age of  each  other.  And  this  is  the  case  here.  The  Shak- 
er community  is  —  admitting  some  small,  narrowed  pe- 
culiarities— one  of  the  best  small  communities  in  the 
world,  and  one  of  the  most  useful  in  the  great  commu- 
nity. 

This  sect  is,  in  general,  not  understood.  People  con- 
sider its  dancing  mode  of  worship  to  be  the  main  princi- 
ple, when,  in  fact,  that  might  just  as  well  be  away,  though 
I,  for  my  part,  would  willingly  retain  it  for  its  symbolic 
meaning,  like  the  heavenly  child's-play  which  I  saw  this 
morning. 

There  are  seventy  or  eighty  Shaker  communities  in  the 
free  states  of  the  Union,  but  that  of  Lebanon  is  the  moth- 
er-community, and  the  others  stand  in  a  subordinate  re- 
lationship to  it  The  sect  does  not  appear  to  have  in- 
creased of  late  years — indeed,  it  has  decreased.  Every 
year  solitary  men  or  women,  and  even  whole  families, 
make  their  appearance  to  fill  up  the  gaps  which  have 
occurred  by  death,  or  by  members  withdrawing  from  the 
association. 

Toward  the  evening  of  this  day  we  have  a  beautiful 
passage  in  the  steamer  across  the  large  lake  Winnipiseo- 
gee  (the  smile  of  the  Great  Spirit),  which  is  scattered  with 
small  islands,  and  surrounded  by  broken  mountain  tops, 
and  presents  splendid  views  of  the  White  Mounlain,  whose 
summits,  Mount  Washington,  Mount  Jefferson,  Adams, 
La  Fayette,  and  many  other  republican  heroes,  beckoned 
to  us  in  Olympian  majesty  in  the  splendor  of  the  bright- 
est August  sun.  The  sunset  was  most  magnificent  above 
that  quiet,  smiling  lake.     When  the  sun  had  sunk  behind 


HOxMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  581 

the  mountains  we  had  reached  land,  and  found  tolerably- 
good  quarters  in  the  inn  on  the  shore. 

The  evening  was  cool  and  bright,  and  it  was  a  great 
happiness  to  me  to  find  myself  in  a  mountain  district,  and 
to  be  able  to  approach  still  nearer  to  the  giants.  Every 
thing  was  still  and  silent  around  us.  Late,  however,  in 
the  evening  a  "  mammoth  party"  arrived,  forty  or  fifty 
persons,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  who,  like  ourselves,  were 
aiming  at  the  White  Mountains,  and  who  took  the  hotel 
by  storm.  Mr.  S.  and  I  were  a  little  out  of  humor  with 
the  company,  partly  on  account  of  the  noise  they  made, 
and  partly  because  of  their  "  staring,"  whenever  we 
chanced  to  meet  them.  We,  however,  became  thoroughly 
reconciled  to  them  next  morning,  when  they  sent  a  greet- 
ing to  me,  and  a  request  to  sing  to  me  on  my  departure. 

Behold  now,  therefore,  Mrs.  E.  and  myself  seated  on 
our  buffalo  skins  in  the  open  traveling-wagon,  and  the 
company  all  assembled  before  the  house,  singing  in  quar- 
tette the  touching  and  pretty  song  of  "  Sweet  Home." 
The  singers  stood  on  the  piazza,  and  around  them  and 
our  wagon  were  probably  a  hundred  persons  assembled, 
all  with  friendly,  earnest  countenances.  It  was  Sunday 
morning ;  the  sky  clear  and  dark  blue,  after  thunder  and 
rain  yesterday ;  the  atmosphere  was  fresh  and  pure  as 
that  of  my  own  native  land. 

I  looked  up  to  the  bright  sky,  and  thought  of  my  home, 
of  my  beloved  ones;  and  listening  to  that  melodious  song, 
"  Sweet  home  !  sweet  home  !"  my  heart  swelled,  and  my 
eyes  were  filled  with  tears.  I  never  received  a  more 
beautiful  morning  salutation.  With  this  in  my  heart,  and 
amid  the  waving  and  kissing  of  hands,  we  drove  off  in  our 
open  wagon  into  the  verdant  mountain  region. 

A  New  Hampshire  farmer,  strong  as  a  giant,  drove  us, 
his  horses  being  brisk  and  gentle,  and  his  wagon  like  one 
of  our  ordinary  traveling- wagons,  resting,  unlike  those,  on 
easy  springs,  so  that  it  was  extremely  comfortable.     We 


582  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD, 

drove  on,  and  our  being  was  full  of  gladness  ;  the  air  was 
pure  as  crystal,  the  heat  not  extreme ;  there  was  no  dust, 
and  through  the  whole  way  our  road  was  bordered  with 
beautiful  forest,  now  fresh  green  after  the  rain,  and  before 
us  we  had  the  great  mountains,  to  which  we  were  ap- 
proaching nearer  and  nearer.  There  was  now  no  snow 
upon  their  crowns,  and  they  appeared  rather  green  than 
white,  and  Mount  Washington  shrouded  himself  before 
long  in  a  wreath  of  light  cloud.  The  scenery  around  us 
resembled  the  central  portion  of  the  northern  mountain 
districts  of  Sweden.  The  pine-tree  and  the  birch  are  in- 
digenous here,  and  beneath  them  grow  the  blueberry,  the 
raspberry,  the  fern,  &c.  Nevertheless,  here  also  grow 
maize,  the  sugar-maple,  the  walnut,  and  chestnut-trees, 
with  many  other  plants  and  trees  which  belong  to  a  more 
southern  climate.  I  can  not  tell  you  how  much  I  enjoy- 
ed this  quiet,  fresh  journey  in  the  open  wagon,  through  a 
tranquil,  summer- rejoicing  mountain  district,  or  how  fresh 
and  agreeable  it  seemed  to  me,  in  comparison  with  a 
journey  in  a  covered  vehicle  or  a  rail-way  carriage,  which 
last,  after  the  first  two  hours,  becomes  oppressively  weari- 
some both  to  soul  and  body.  But  here  we  sat,  awake 
and  cheerful,  the  whole  day  through.  Mount  Washing- 
ton stood  before  us  the  whole  time  like  a  landmark.  This 
mountain,  the  largest  and  loftiest  of  the  White  Mount- 
ains, which  is  not  more  than  three  thousand  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  sea,  has  a  very  marked  character.  It  is 
massive  and  pyramidal,  but  without  an  apex.  The  sun> 
mit  is  a  plateau,  appearing  at  a  distance  like  that  which 
volcanoes  present.  But,  unlike  volcanoes,  there  is  at  the 
top  of  Mount  Washington  no  crater,  but  a  spring  of  fresh 
water.  Deep  furrows,  as  of  mountain  streams,  plow  the 
sides  of  the  mountain.  The  other  mountains,  which  link 
themselves  in  long  array  to  this,  bear  a  resemblance  to  it, 
but  are  less  significant.  All  ascend  in  a  gradual,  pyram- 
idal form,  and  have  rounded  tops  or  ridges. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  583 

The  nearer  we  approached  the  great  mountain,  and  the 
more  the  day  declined,  the  cooler  it  became.  The  giants 
wrapped  themselves  in  gray,  misty  mantles,  and  enfolded 
us  in  them  also  ;  they  did  not  receive  us  kindly.  Never- 
theless, I  felt  kindly  toward  them,  and,  with  a  sort  of  pleas- 
ure, allowed  myself  to  be  inclosed  in  their  cold  breath.  My 
friend,  the  moon,  ascended,  and  combated  for  a  while  with 
the  spirits  of  the  mist,  and  looked  down  upon  us  from  amid 
them  with  serene  and  kindly  glances.  My  friend  wished 
well  to  us,  and  that  I  knew  perfectly  well.  She  could  not, 
however,  perfectly  penetrate  those  gray  mantles. 

We  advanced  deeper  and  deeper  into  the  bosom  of  the 
mountains,  by  solitary  roads,  upon  which  we  did  not  meet 
a  single  human  being  through  the  whole  day.  Already 
had  the  night  set  in.  Whether  it  was  the  influence  of 
the  giants  or  not,  I  can  not  say,  but  I  felt  no  sensation  of 
weariness  from  the  long  day's  journey — nay,  indeed,  I  could 
very  well  have  proceeded  onward  through  the  night.  It 
was  about  midnight  when  we  reached  our  quarters,  and 
it  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty,  and  by  making  a  loud 
noise  at  the  door,  that  we  could  wake  the  landlord  of  the 
little  inn.  At  last,  however,  we  succeeded,  and  the  land- 
lord, sleepy,  but  kind  and  hearty,  made  us  a  fire,  and  pre- 
pared all  that  we  required  for  refreshment  and  our  night's 
rest. 

11th.  A  beautiful  bright  morning,  an  enchanting  morn- 
ing ramble,  morning  dew  on  the  grass,  in  the  soul,  in  life! 
The  memory  of  the  Yale  Song,  and  its  prophecy  of  the 
renovation  of  human  beings  born  from  dew!  The  heav- 
ens were  a  halleluiah — I  have  known  such  in  the  New 
World !  They  live  in  my  soul,  encave  themselves  into  pic- 
tures of  the  imagination,  long  prefigured,  but  treasured  in 
the  silent  work-shop  of  the  soul.  How  strange !  Beneath 
the  wild  heaven  of  South  Carolina  I  would  merely  enjoy, 
and,  enjoying,  sing  praises.  Here  I  enjoy  also,  but  in  an- 
other manner.     The  soul  is  more  powerful,  more  alive.    It 


584  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

receives  merely  to  give  in  return.  It  will  prod  ace — it  will 
work.  The  dramatic  life  in  the  mountains,  and  in  the 
mountain-streams,  forests,  clouds,  and  sunbeams,  awaken 
the  dramatic  life  within  myself,  and  call  to  life  pictures 
and  scenes  which  have  laid  in  swaddling-bands  within  my 
soul  for  fifteen  or  twenty  years.  They  and  I  celebrate 
this  morning  as  a  festival  of  the  resurrection.  The  roads 
are  full  of  the  songs  of  birds. 

We  shall,  in  the  afternoon,  proceed  onward. 

Franconia  Notch,  La  Fayette  House,  August  15th. 

I  have  lived  in  the  bosom  of  the  White  Mountains  since 
I  last  wrote,  heartily  enjoying  the  companionship  of  the 
giants,  the  fantastic  gambols  of  the  clouds  around  them, 
of  the  songs  and  the  dances  of  the  brooks  in  the  deep 
glens,  of  the  whole  of  this  bold  and  strong  scenery,  which 
made  me  feel  as  if  at  home  in  Sweden,  amid  the  glorious 
river- valleys  of  Dalecarlia  or  Norsland.  Yet  the  scenery 
here  is  more  picturesque,  more  playful  and  fantastic,  has 
more  cheerful  diversity,  and  the  affluence  of  wood  and  the 
beautiful  foliage  in  the  valleys  is  extraordinary;  you  walk 
or  drive  continually  between  the  most  lovely  wild  hedges 
of  hazel,  elm,  sumach  (a  very  beautiful  shrub,  which  is 
general  throughout  America),  sugar-maple,  yellow  birch, 
fir-trees,  pines,  and  many  other  trees  and  shrubs ;  and  on 
all  sides  is  heard  the  singing  and  the  roaring  of  the  mount- 
ain streams,  clear  as  silver,  through  the  passes  of  the  hills. 
It  was  so  cold  in  certain  parts  of  this  mountain  region  that, 
it  was  with  difficulty  that  I  could  guide  my  pen,  from  the 
stiffness  of  my  fingers.  But  both  soul  and  body  were  hale, 
and  Mrs.  E.  was  equally  vigorous  and  refreshing  as  the 
scenery  itself,  with  all  its  heights  and  its  singing  brooks, 
its  waving  flowers  and  shrubs. 

The  peculiarity  of  these  so-called  White  Mountains  is 
the  many  gigantic  human  profiles  which,  in  many  places, 
look  out  from  the  mountains  with  a  precision  and  perfect 
regularity  of  outline  which  is  quite  astonishing.     They 


1 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  5g5 

have  very  much  amused  me,  and  I  have  sketched  several 
of  them  in  my  rambles.  We  have  our  quarters  here  very 
close  to  one  of  these  countenances,  which  has  long  been 
known  under  the  name  of  "the  Old  Man  of  the  Mountain." 
It  has  not  any  nobility  in  its  features,  but  resembles  a 
very  old  man  in  a  bad  humor,  and  with  a  night- cap  on 
his  head,  who  is  looking  out  from  the  mountain  half  in- 
quisitive. Far  below  the  old  giant's  face  is  an  enchant- 
ing little  lake,  resembling  a  bright  oval  toilet  glass,  in- 
closed in  a  verdant  frame  of  leafage.  The  Old  Man  of  the 
Mountain  looks  out  gloomily  over  this  quiet  lake,  and  the 
clouds  float  far  below  his  chin. 

Another  head  is  that  of  a  helmeted  warrior,  evidently 
one  of  Theo's  good  fellows.  I  flatter  myself  with  having 
made  the  discovery  of  two  faces.  The  one,  which  is  seen 
in  the  distance  against  the  blue  sky,  is  the  countenance 
of  a  beautiful  woman,  glancing  upward  with  an  expres- 
sion of  unspeakable  melancholy.  An  old  pine-tree  stands 
like  the  sign  of  the  cross  above  her  head;  the  brow  is  sur- 
rounded as  by  a  diadem  of  wavy  hair.  It  is  an  extreme- 
ly remarkable  profile,  especially  for  the  soft  beauty  of  the 
mouth  and  chin.  Below  this  noble  countenance,  if  you 
step  back  a  few  paces,  another  presents  itself,  ugly  and 
cruel,  with  a  great  wart  on  its  forehead.  Evidently  a 
wicked  giant,  who  keeps  a  beautiful  princess  in  captivi- 
ty. I  caught  glimpses  of  several  other  countenances,  and 
should  certainly  have  traced  them  out  if  I  had  remained 
longer  in  company  with  the  giants. 

The  Indians  are  said  to  have  worshiped  these  faces,  and 
to  have  offered  sacrifices  to  them  as  to  divinities ;  they  are 
also  said  to  have  many  legends  concerning  them-  The 
conquerors  and  successors  of  the  Indians  have  not  left  here 
any  other  traces  than  of  some  tragical  events. 

One  place  is  called  "  Nanny  Bridge,"  from  a  young  girl 
who  was  found  here  frozen  to  death.  She  was  the  daugh- 
ter of  a  farmer  in  the  neighborhood,  and  had  one  evening 

Bb2 


586  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

a  quarrel  with  her  lover,  in  consequence  of  which  he  left 
her  in  anger.  She  followed  him  in  a  state  of  desperation, 
and  was  overtaken  hy  night  in  a  snow-storm.  The  next 
morning  she  was  found  frozen  to  death,  and  her  lover  be- 
came insane. 

Not  far  from  this  place,  in  the  valley,  stands  the  now 
deserted  "  Wiley  House,"  as  it  is  called.  A  few  years  ago 
a  large  family  dwelt  here.  One  night  they  were  aroused 
from  sleep  hy  a  horrible  noise  and  fall,  and  which  was  evi- 
dently the  crash  of  an  avalanche,  which  was  descending 
from  the  mountain  in  the  direction  of  the  house,  and  would 
overwhelm  it.  The  family  rushed  out  in  the  dark  night 
to  find  a  place  in  which  they  believed  they  should  escape 
the  danger.  But  the  avalanche  took  precisely  that  direc- 
tion, and  overwhelmed  the  whole  fugitive  family,  consist- 
ing of  nine  persons.  Hawthorne  has  taken  this  tragical 
incident  as  the  subject  of  one  of  his  household  tales — 
"The  Ambitious  Guest." 

It  is  now  the  custom  to  ascend  the  mountain  from  which 
the  avalanche  fell  to  obtain  from  its  top  a  view  of  the 
valley.  And  just  now  has  a  trundling  wagon,  drawn  by 
six  horses,  and  conveying  from  twenty  to  thirty  persons, 
driven  at  full  speed  from  the  hotel  up  the  mountain.  Mrs. 
S.  and  I  declined  to  join  the  party,  as  I  have  also  declined 
to  ascend  Mount  Washington,  which  is  done  on  horseback, 
and  with  incredible  difficulty,  in  order  to  see — nothing 
under  the  most  favorable  circumstances,  that  is,  if  there 
are  no  clouds — a  confused  view  of  land  and  water. 

The  whole  of  this  mountain  district  is  very  wild,  and 
there  is  scarcely  a  dwelling  to  be  seen  excepting  the  ho- 
tels for  travelers.  It  is,  however,  overflowing  with  noisy, 
unquiet  company,  who  do  not  seem  to  understand  any 
other  mode  of  enjoying  nature  than  in  talking,  laughing, 
eating,  drinking,  and  by  all  kinds  of  noisy  pleasures.  They 
pass  up  the  mountain  laughing  at  full  gallop,  and  come 
down  again  at  full  gallop.     Champagne  corks  fly  about 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  587 

at  the  hotels,  gentlemen  sit  and  play  at  cards  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  day,  and  ladies  talk  about  dress-makers  and 
fashions.  How  unlike  is  this  thoughtless  life  to  that  of 
nature,  where  the  clouds  come  down  as  if  to  converse  with 
the  mountain,  sometimes  speeding  over  them  like  airy 
dragons,  sometimes  floating  around  them  caressingly  with 
garlands  and  light  sylph-like  forms,  which  moisten  their 
forests  with  soft  dewy  vails  ;  while  in  the  valley  below 
the  little  streams  grow  and  sing,  and  trees  and  flowers 
waft  over  them  their  blessing  as  they  speed  along  their 
way  ;  and  above  all  this,  the  play  of  light  and  shadow, 
sunbeams  in  the  waterfalls  which  leap  from  the  mountain, 
the  mighty  rock  visages,  the  little  twittering  birds — that 
is  life  ! 

The  senseless  rioting  of  man  in  the  midst  of  this  gran- 
deur of  nature  makes  me  almost  sad  for  my  kindred.  And 
yet,  when  I  was  young,  I  did  not  understand  how  to  en- 
joy life  and  nature  in  any  other  way.  The  inclination 
was  not  wanting,  but  there  was  want  of  education,  and, 
amid  all  that  noisy  merriment,  a  vacuity  was  felt. 

People  seek  for  the  spiritual  Champagne,  but  they  mis- 
take what  it  is. 

The  true  has  the  same  relation  to  the  ordinary  that 
Bacchus  Dithyrambus  has  to  Silenus. 

Yet  there  were  also  some  true  worshipers  of  the  great 
goddess.  One  day  we  met  a  father  and  his  little  daugh- 
ter. They  had  been  botanizing  in  the  woods,  and  showed 
us  several  beautiful  vacciniums,  as  well  as  a  monotropa, 
which  has  merely  one  single  flower,  and  is  here  called 
the  Indian  pipes.  The  father  and  daughter  looked  gentle 
and  happy.     It  was  a  beautiful  and  perfect  little  picture. 

Mrs.  S.  and  I  are  also  of  that  class  which  silently  re- 
ceives the  great  spectacle  into  a  thankful  mind,  now  sit- 
ting beside  the  silver  cascades  for  whole  hours,  now  wan- 
dering on  solitary  rambles  of  discovery  among  the  roman- 
tic mountain  gorges. 


588  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

We  have  this  afternoon  rambled  up  to  the  Thune.  This 
is  a  narrow  chasm  between  two  lofty  granite  walls,  through 
which  a  stream  pours  in  almost  a  direct  line  upward  of 
eight  hundred  feet,  when  it  falls  in  a  cascade  from  a 
height  of  six  hundred  feet.  Along  the  front  of  one  of  the 
rock  walls  our  host,  in  true  Yankee  fashion,  had  carried 
a  pathway  formed  of  pieces  of  timber,  stones,  branches 
which  did  not  resemble  any  thing,  but  along  which  people, 
to  their  astonishment,  could  walk  quite  safely,  and  with- 
out the  least  difficulty,  if  they  steadied  themselves  with 
one  hand  against  the  rock  wall.  Only  a  few  days  ago  he 
had  carried  a  path  over  the  stream  fifty  feet  higher  up. 
At  the  point  where  it  ceased  we  found  ourselves  near  to 
an  immense  round  block  of  stone,  which  had  fallen  into 
the  chasm,  and  become  fixed,  so  that  it  formed  above  it  a 
kind  of  curtain.  Beyond  the  gloomy  gorge,  which  looked 
almost  black,  we  saw  up  aloft  the  stream  hurl  itself  from 
the  left  hand  into  the  mountain  chasm,  in  a  strong  stream, 
clear  as  crystal.  Whence  came  it?  That  was  impossi- 
ble to  say ;  but  the  sun  shone  brightly  upon  it,  and  over 
it  a  little  birch-tree  waved  its  soft,  light  green  branches. 
The  source  of  the  dark  river  lay  in  light.  It  gladdened 
me,  and  all  the  way  over  that  singing  waterfall  sang  and 
sported  within  my  soul  scenes  and  conversations  which  I 
will  relate  to  you  at  home. 

All  this  scenery  and  this  country  are  refreshing,  wild, 
and  picturesque.  There  are  many  "lions"  among  the 
mountains,  and  a  printed  card  which  I  received  from  our 
host  of  La  Fayette  House  promises 

"An  echo  from  the  cannon  every  evening  on  the  lake." 

But  I  have  already  described  sufficient. 

We  shall  now  proceed  from  the  White  Mountains  of 
New  Hampshire  to  the  green  hill,  Vermont. 

Burlington,  on  Lake  Champlain,  Vermont,  August  19th. 

I  now  write  to  you  from  a  beautiful  house  on  the  shores 
of  the  Lake  Champlain,  which  has  one  of  the  most  glori- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  589 

ous  views  over  the  water  and  the  mountain  region  which 
I  have  ever  seen  since  the  Lake  of  Geneva,  in  Switzerland. 
Nature  is  on  a  grander  scale  there ;  nor  the  mountain  of 
of  Adirondack,  now  before  me  in  "Western  New  York,  nor 
the  Green  Mountains  of  Vermont,  aspire  to  the  height  of  the 
Alps,  hut  their  forms  are  picturesque,  combined  with  a  cer- 
tain degree  of  grandeur  and  boldness,  and  over  the  whole 
fine  and  cheerful  district  now  shines  a  beautiful  August 
sun,  declining  toward  its  setting,  and  filling  the  clouds 
with  an  indescribable  golden  splendor.  The  mountain 
called  Le  lion  couchant  seems  possessed  of  life,  and  about 
to  rise  up  in  splendid  glow  of  light — a  magnificent  giant 
form.  And  there  are  many  other  mountains  in  this  neigh- 
borhood which  possess  strongly-marked  symbolic  shapes. 

We,  Mrs.  S.  and  myself,  are  at  the  house  of  the  ex-pres- 
ident of  the  academy,  Mr.  W.,  where  I  was  kindly  invited 
by  both  father  and  daughters.  It  is  a  noble  and  beauti- 
ful family,  in  which  domestic  devotion  is  practiced,  and 
where  a  mother  only  is  wanted.  This  mother  has  now 
been  dead  two  years,  and  is  yet  tenderly  sorrowed  for  by 
her  children,  three  sons  and  three  daughters,  all  agreeable 
and  highly-gifted  young  people.  The  father  of  the  fam- 
ily, a  stately,  elderly  gentleman,  and  strict  Puritan,  nine 
feet  in  height,  I  fancy  (and  on  whose  arm,  as  we  walked 
together,  I  hung  like  a  swing  in  a  tree),  has  a  strongly- 
marked  countenance,  and  keen,  but  kind  eyes ;  is  a  firm 
Whig,  and  not  favorable  to  the  Democrats;  in  all  other  re- 
spects an  extremely  polite  and  agreeable  gentleman,  very 
entertaining  to  me  in  conversation,  from  his  perfect  knowl- 
edge of  the  ecclesiastical  state  of  the  country,  from  the 
clearness  of  all  his  views,  though  I  could  not  accord  with 
them  all,  and  his  agreeable  manner  of  communication. 
The  house  is  a  villa  near  the  city,  and  is  possessed  of  all 
the  charm  and  comfort  of  an  Anglo-American  home. 

Yesterday  we  went  on  a  pleasure  party  across  the  lake 
to  Adirondack  Mountain,  on  the  New  York  shore.      The 


590  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

day  was  beautiful,  so  also  was  the  excursion  ;  the  scenery 
of  the  rapid,  though  shallow  little  river,  Au  Sable,  where 
the  rocks  present  the  appearance  of  regularly  built,  inac- 
cessible fortress  walls  of  a  most  remarkable  character,  all 
of  which  I  should  have  enjoyed  much  more  if  I  had  not 
been  called  upon  to  reply  to  so  many  useless  questions. 
There  was  one  lady  in  particular,  with  a  sharp,  shrill 
voice,  who  tormented  me  in  this  style  :  Where  are  you 
intending  to  go  when  you  leave  this?  "Whence  did  you 
come  from  hither  ?  With  whom  did  you  stay  there  ?  Who 
did  you  see  at  their  house  ?  and  so  on. 

Oh!  that  people  were  but  a  little  more  like  the  objects 
in  nature,  that  they  approached  each  other  for  some  defi- 
nite purpose,  and  had  a  pleasure  in  influencing  each  other 
by  the  silent  communication  of  this ;  how  much  more 
would  they  then  allure  from  us,  how  much  more  would 
they  then  know  of  us,  than  by  these  senseless,  merely  out- 
ward questionings,  and  which  the  better  class  in  this  coun- 
try reprobate  and  ridicule  as  much  as  any  foreigner  what- 
ever. Neither  was  there  a  want  in  this  picnic  of  persons 
such  as  I  have  just  wished  for.  There  was,  in  particular, 
one  charming  young  lady  of  very  intellectual  character, 
and  as  fresh  as  the  singing  brook  or  the  waving  tree.  It 
was  an  agreeable  invigoration  to  me  to  sit  by  her,  to  look 
at  her,  to  listen  to  her  conversation,  which  was  overflow- 
ing with  soul. 

Whenever  I  take  a  fancy  to  a  lady,  and  we  are  mutu- 
ally attracted  to  each  other,  it  generally  happens  that  I  very 
soon  learn  something  of  her  biography.  In  that  of  this 
amiable  young  lady  I  was  struck  with  the  following: 

She  was  overwhelmed  by  a  severe  and  crushing  afflic- 
tion ;  she  felt  that  she  must  either  yield  to  it  or — travel 
away  from  it — from  it,  from  her  own  thoughts,  from  her- 
self. Without  any  fixed  plan  or  any  other  object  than  to 
get  away,  she  seated  herself  in  a  rail- way  carriage,  and  let 
the  train  convey  her  out  into  the  wide  world.     The  trees 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  591 

waved,  and  beckoned  her  on  into  the  world ;  the  clouds 
advanced  before  her,  and  she  followed ;  and  one  new  ob- 
ject exchanged  itself  for  another;  her  spirits  grew  lighter, 
and  the  whole  tone  of  her  mind  improved.  She  could 
think  more  freely ;  life  and  every  thing  assumed  a  brighter 
aspect.  After  a  journey  of  merely  a  few  days,  she  was 
able  to  return  home  to  her  parents  with  recovered  self-pos- 
session and  peace  of  mind.  And  now — two  years  later — 
she  was  amazed  at  the  amount  of  happiness  which  she  was 
capable  of  enjoying. 

"The  time  of  silent  sighs  is  past,"  said  Greijer,  on  one 
occasion.  Ah!  there  is  much  yet  wanted  for  that;  but 
this  is  certain,  that  the  facility  there  is  for  a  change  of 
scene,  for  the  receiving  of  new  impressions,  and  the  ease 
with  which  they  are  imparted,  approximates  this  time.  In 
a  country  where  rail-roads  and  steam-boats  intersect  the 
land  in  all  directions,  and  enable  people  to  fly  through  the 
world,  there  is  no  need  for  them  to  grow  mouldy,  as  it 
were,  or  to  grow  sour  from  sitting  still. 

August  20th.  Pity  that  three  days  of  rest  in  this  lovely 
home,  among  its  kind  inmates,  are  now  drawing  to  a  close. 
I  have  heartily  enjoyed  the  glorious  prospects,  and  the  pomp 
of  the  sunsets  which  I  have  witnessed  from  my  window. 
These  lake  districts  are  celebrated  for  their  magnificent 
sunsets.  Nor  have  I  any  where  else  seen  such  picturesque 
clouds,  or  such  splendid  transitions  of  color  ;  there  is  in  it 
a  joyousness  and  a  play  of  color  altogether  unlike  the  soft 
and  mild  splendor  of  the  sky  of  the  South.  The  peculiar 
outline  of  the  mountains  is  also  very  attractive  to  me,  and 
Le  Hon  couchant  becomes  every  day  more  animated  to  me. 
Lake  Champlain  has  received  its  name  from  the  brave  and 
wise  Frenchman,  Champlain,  who  first  discovered  and  then 
colonized  this  part  of  the  country.  Maine,  New  Hampshire, 
and  Vermont  were,  at  the  commencement,  peopled  from 
France,  and  have  to  thank  French  missionaries  and  French 
colonists  for  their  first  cultivation.     Of  this  but  little  now 


592  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

remains  except  the  names  of  places  and  rivers,  and  some 
Catholic  seminaries.  Vast  forests,  large  lakes  and  mount- 
ains, are  the  primeval  features  of  these  states;  agriculture, 
the  breeding  of  cattle,  and  the  cutting  of  timber,  are  their 
principal  occupations.  One  beautiful  minor  branch  of 
trade  is  the  preparation  of  maple-sugar,  which  is  in  con- 
siderable demand.  The  maple-tree  is  tapped  for  its  sap, 
as  the  birch-tree  with  us,  and  the  sugar  is  formed  in  small 
cakes  of  a  brown  color  and  very  sweet  flavor. 

I  saw  yesterday  evening  at  this  house  a  great  assembly 
of  the  society  of  Burlington;  cheerful  and  agreeable  coun- 
tenances were  there — many  such  among  the  young. 

There  was  in  the  company  a  universally  beloved  and 
esteemed  schoolmistress,  who  had,  from  her  youth  upward, 
labored  alone  for  herself  and  her  family.  She  had  done 
this  so  successfully  as  to  be  able  to  educate  several  youn- 
ger brothers  and  sisters ;  to  pay  the  family  debts ;  maintain 
her  aged  mother;  and,  finally,  build  her  a  dwelling-house. 
After  having  accomplished  all  this,  she  was  now,  at  the 
age  of  thirty,  about  to  be  married  herself  to  a  man  to 
whom  she  had  long  been  engaged.  She  could  now  think 
about  her  own  happiness,  about  her  own  house  and  home. 
The  universal  sympathy  which  seemed  to  have  been  ex- 
cited, and  the  joy  with  which  I  heard  all  this  related, 
speak  highly  for  the  rest  of  the  community  by  whom  the 
beautiful  life  and  happiness  of  one  humble  individual  is 
so  much  appreciated. 

Saratoga,  August  22d. 

I  have  now  come  hither  from  the  society  of  the  White 
and  Green  Mountains,  from  the  world-despising  Shakers, 
to  the  most  fashionable,  the  worst,  and  most  worldly  place 
in  the  United  States,  just  to  glance  at  and  receive  an  im- 
pression of  its  life  for  my  panorama  of  the  New  World. 

We  left  Burlington  yesterday.  Many  of  my  new  friends 
accompanied  us  by  steamer  across  the  lake,  and  our  po- 
lite host,  the  ex-president  and  his  only  daughter — a  dear- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  593 

\y  beloved,  but  physically  delicate  young  girl — came  on 
hither,  where  they  will  remain  a  couple  of  days  with  us. 
The  picture  of  that  romantic  lake,  and  of  the  colossal  re- 
posing granite  lion,  which  in  the  setting  sunlight  seemed 
to  increase  in  size,  while  it  receded  still  further  and  fur- 
ther into  the  dim  distance,  is  one  which  I  shall  ever  re- 
tain in  my  mind  among  the  most  beautiful  natural  scenes 
of  America.  We  reached  Saratoga,  in  the  western  por- 
tion of  New  York,  in  the  evening,  and  made  that  same 
evening  our  appearance  in  the  public  saloon. 

Several  couples,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  were  promenad- 
ing round  and  round  in  the  middle  of  the  room  beneath 
the  brilliant  chandeliers.  One  couple,  in  particular,  at- 
tracted our  attention.  It  was  a  very  handsome  young 
girl,  with  very  beautiful  and  quite  bare  shoulders,  and  a 
young  man,  elegant  and  handsome  also.  They  were,  it 
was  said,  the  present  season's  pair  of  lovers.  Among  the 
elderly  company  was  one  handsome  old  lady,  who  was 
said  to  be  very  like  Mrs.  Martha  Washington,  and  who 
was  dressed  in  the  same  old-fashioned  style,  which  was 
so  very  becoming  to  her  that  she  looked  in  this  costume 
both  original  and  extremely  well.  I,  who  am  very  fond 
of  a  little  costume,  and  who  would  like  that  every  per- 
son should  dress  themselves  according  to  their  individu- 
ality, whether  of  figure  or  fancy,  was  greatly  amused  by 
the  assembly,  and  as  I  chanced  to  meet  there  many  new 
and  old  acquaintances,  I  was  not  only  amused,  but  soon 
tired  and  was  obliged  to  leave. 

This  evening,  however,  there  is  to  be  the  great  ball  of 
the  season,  to  which  I  am  invited,  and  whither  I  shall  go 
to  see  all  that  is  to  be  seen.  This  season  is  said  not  to 
be  very  brilliant,  owing  to  the  weather  having  been  cold 
and  wet.     It  now  rains. 

23d.  Now  I  have  seen  all  that  is  to  be  seen,  namely, 
the  great  ball,  and  that  is  not  such  a  very  great  ball,  after 
all.     There  were  not  many  people,  and  among  the  people 


594  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD 

nothing  remarkable,  excepting  some  half  dozen  tasteful  and 
lovely  toilets.  It  would  be  impossible  to  conceive  any  thing 
more  harmonious  and  elegant,  without  the  slightest  show- 
iness  or  extravagance.  The  ladies  who  wore  them  were 
also  handsome  and  agreeable,  and  had  in  their  costume 
adopted  the  style  which  best  suited  them.  I  was  much 
pleased  with  the  principal  belle  and  dancer  of  the  ball,  be- 
cause she  was  so  very  singular  in  figure  and  style.  Her 
dancing  was  so  abrupt,  and  the  wreath  of  red  Provence 
roses  which  she  wore  was  placed  on  her  head  with  so  lit- 
tle grace,  that  I  only  wondered  at  her.  Neither  did  the 
gentlemen  dance  well;  the  polka  was  singularly  ungrace- 
ful. It  was  painful  to  me  to  see  some  pale  little  girls 
tricked  out  like  grown  people,  and  old  before  their  time. 
To  take  children  out  of  their  childhood  is  to  destroy  the 
whole  of  their  future. 

One  of  the  gentlemen  at  the  ball  had  taken  it  into  his 
head  that  I  did  not  properly  appreciate  Grirard  College  at 
Philadelphia,  and  took  upon  himself  to  be  my  instructor 
on  the  subject  of  this  college,  which  he  maintained  to  be 
unparalleled  in  the  whole  world.  I  observed  that  such 
institutions  were  to  be  met  with  also  in  Switzerland  and 
France.  But  no,  not  wholly  such;  there  were  no  insti- 
tutions in  Europe  which  were  altogether  like  this  Amer- 
ican one,  which  was  vastly  superior,  as  he  would  now 
show  me. 

I  felt  myself  indescribably  incapable  of  learning,  and, 
sighing,  bethought  myself  of  Solomon's  words,  "  That  there 
was  a  time  for  all  things."  I  wished  to  look  quietly  at  the 
ball,  and  was  very  very  glad  when  some  new  and  agreeable 
acquaintance  put  an  end  to  the  lecture. 

And  it  has  often  happened  to  me  thus ;  just  as  I  have 
had  one  instance  of  American  assumption,  the  very  next 
moment  I  meet  with  an  American  sense  of  forbearance. 

An  elderly  gentleman  at  Saratoga,  who  appeared  to  be 
in  ill  health,  but  whose  countenance  was  very  agreeable, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  595 

asked  me,  with  a  diffident  expression,  whether  I  really 
thought  that  the  people  of  America  were  happier  than 
those  of  Europe? 

After  so  many  self-conceited  questions  about  America, 
it  was  a  real  refreshment  to  me,  and  I  was  glad  that  I 
could  reply  that  I  believed  there  was  more  hope  here  than 
elsewhere,  and  that  in  that  alone  consisted  a  greater  hap- 
piness. 

Spite  of  the  many  examples  I  have  had  of  American 
criticism  on  Americans,  I  can  not  deny  being  sometimes 
reminded  of  the  words  of  an  Englishman:  "I  will  not  say 
that  the  Americans  do  not  do  many  great  things,  but  they 
are  not  done  in  a  heroic  way.  And  it  has  sometimes  ap- 
peared to  me,  that  that  which  this  people  need  most  to 
make  them  really  great,  is  a  high-minded  dissatisfaction 
with  themselves." 

But  is  this  to  be  found  among  Englishmen  or  French- 
men? Is  it  possessed  by  any  nation  excepting  in  its  no- 
blest representatives?  And  such  are  not  wanting  here, 
as  I  know  by  frequent  experience. 

The  illumination  of  the  public  buildings  in  the  evening 
at  Saratoga  was  tasteful.  The  supper  and  the  arrange- 
ments of  the  ball  showed  care  and  good  taste.  Our  sweet 
Vermont  flower,  Miss  N.,  was  unable — more  was  the  pity 
— to  be  with  us  this  evening.  I  took  leave  of  her  and  her 
father  with  regret,  very  sorry  not  to  be  able  to  accept  his 
invitation  to  be  present  with  him  at  a  grand  synod  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  which  will  be  held  next  month  in 
Maine. 

New  York,  September  4th. 

Ah !  my  child,  what  a  whirl  of  changing  scenes,  occu- 
pation, and  engagements  have  not  the  latter  few  days  been ! 
I  could  scarcely  collect  my  faculties,  much  less  take  pen 
quietly  in  hand,  and  even  now  I  am  writing  on  flying  foot, 
li)  e  Mercury,  if  I  may  so  say,  ready  to  be  carried  off  at 
a    moment's  warning,  or  by  kind  friends.     Nevertheless,  I 


c 


596  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

must  give  you  shortly,  and  in  great  haste,  a  little  account 
of  my  proceedings. 

From  Saratoga  we  went  to  Lenox,  in  Massachusetts 
where,  according  to    arrangement,  I   met  my   excellent 
friends  the  O.'s,  from  Boston.     I  here  also  parted  with  my 
agreeable  traveling  companion,  Mrs.  S.  and  her  husband, 
who  had  kindly  met  us  by  the  way. 

The  country  around  Lenox  is  romantically  lovely,  in- 
spired with  wood -covered  hills,  and  the  prettiest  little 
lakes.  Amid  this  scenery  have  Catharine  Sedgwick  and 
Nathaniel  Hawthorne  their  rural  homes.  I  had  been  in- 
vited to  both,  and  I  wished  to  see  both.  I  spent  four-and-  \ 
twenty  hours  with  the  excellent  and  amiable  Catharine 
Sedgwick  and  her  family,  enjoying  her  company  and  that  ' 
of  several  agreeable  ladies.  There  were  no  gentlemen — 
gentlemen,  indeed,  seemed  to  be  rare  in  social  circles  of 
this  neighborhood.  But  they  were  less  missed  here  than  is 
generally  the  case  in  society,  because  the  women  of  this 
little  circle  are  possessed  of  unusual  intellectual  cultiva- 
tion— several  of  them  endowed  with  genius  and  talent  of 
a  high  order.  Fanny  Kemble  has  her  home  here  when 
she  resides  in  America;  at  the  present  time  she  is  in  En- 
gland. The  scenery  is  beautiful ;  these  ladies  enjoy  it  and 
each  other's  society,  and  life  lacks  nothing  to  the  greater 
number. 

I  am,  in  a  general  way,  struck  with  the  number  of  la- 
dies, and  the  scarcity  of  gentlemen  in  the  homes  of  the 
lesser  cities  in  the  Eastern  States.  The  gentlemen  run 
over  to  the  larger  cities,  or  to  the  Great  West,  to  carry  on 
business,  to  construct  rail- ways,  or  to  acquire  wealth  in 
one  way  or  another.  Many  solitary  ladies  are  met  with  in 
these  Eastern  States,  who  are  neither  wanting  in  charms 
or  endowments  of  soul,  and  yet  who  grow  old  unmarried. 
I  have  heard  many  of  these  wish  for  themselves  a  wider 
sphere  of  activity,  the  opportunity  for  leading  a  more 
cheerful  and  more  generally  useful  life.     The  old  lament 


HOMES  OF  THE  x\EW  WORLD.  597 

over  the  stagnation  and  the  heaviness  of  life,  which  I  heard 
in  Europe,  is  repeated  here  also.  It  ought  not  to  be  so 
here,  in  the  young  New  World. 

I  spent  an  extremely  agreeable  day  with  Miss  Sedgwick,  \ 
and  one  evening  with  Hawthorne,  in  an  endeavor  in  con- 
verse. But,  whether  it  was  his  fault  or  mine,  I  can  not 
say,  but  it  did  not  succeed.  I  had  to  talk  by  myself,  and 
at  length  became  quite  dejected,  and  felt  I  know  not  how. 
Nevertheless,  Hawthorne  was  evidently  kind,  and  wished 
to  make  me  comfortable — but  we  could  not  get  on  togeth- 
er in  conversation.  It  was,  however,  a  pleasure  to  me  to 
see  his  beautiful,  significant,  though  not  perfectly  harmo- 
nious head.  The  forehead  is  capacious  and  serene  as  the 
arch  of  heaven,  and  a  thick  mass  of  soft  dark  brown  hair 
beautifully  clustered  around  it;  the  fine,  deep -set  eyes 
glance  from  beneath  well-arched  eyebrows  like  the  dark 
but  clear  lakes  of  the  neighborhood,  lying  in  the  sombre 
bosom  of  mountain  and  forest ;  the  nose  is  refined  and  reg- 
ular in  form;  the  smile,  like  that  of  the  sun  smiling  over 
the  summer  woods;  nevertheless,  it  has  a  bitter  expres- 
sion. The  whole  upper  part  of  the  countenance  is  clas- 
sically beautiful,  but  the  lower  part  does  not  perfectly  cor- 
respond, and  is  deficient  in  decided  character. 

Immediately  in  front  of  Hawthorne's  house  lies  one  of 
those  small  clear  lakes,  with  its  sombre  margin  of  forest, 
which  characterize  this  district,  and  Hawthorne  seems 
greatly  to  enjoy  the  view  of  it,  and  the  wildly  wooded 
country.  His  amiable  wife  is  inexpressibly  happy  to  see 
him  so  happy  here.  A  smile,  a  word  from  him  conveys 
more  to  her  than  long  speeches  from  other  people.  She 
reads  his  very  soul,  and — "he  is  the  best  of  husbands." 
Rose,  the  youngest  child,  is  still  on  the  mother's  breast. 
Hawthorne's  house  is  a  happy,  quiet  little  abode,  embrac- 
ing a  beautiful  family  life.  

At  the  rural  inn  where  I  was  staying  with  my  friends, 
the  O.'s,  also  resided  as  guests  several  young  girls  for  the 


598  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

benefit  of  country  air  and  life.  There  was  also  a  hand- 
some and  still  youthful  mother,  with  five  handsome  daugh- 
ters. I  one  morning  asked  every  one  of  these  what  she 
wished  for  as  her  ultimatum  in  life.  Every  one  replied 
by  mentioning  some  tolerably  indifferent  occupation  and 
condition  of  life.  I  reproached  them  with  not  being  can- 
did, and  asked  them  whether  in  their  conscience  they 
would  not  reply,  as  an  amiable  young  girl  had  done  to 
whom  I  had  once  put  the  same  question,  "To  be  married, 
and  to  see  all  my  friends  happy  around  me  ?"  The  young 
girls  laughed,  and  two  of  them  said  "  Yes,  if  the  right 
man  came."  And  this  reply  is  characteristic  of  the  young 
American's  state  of  life  and  feeling.  These  young  girls, 
indulged  by  every  one,  enjoying  their  life  and  their  liber- 
ty, without  compulsion  or  restraint  of  any  kind,  are  not 
likely  to  be  anxious,  or  to  trouble  themselves  about  the 
circumstances  of  their  lives.  Yet  they  will  not  say  "  no" 
when  "the  right  man  comes."  And  for  many  young 
girls  he  comes  quite  too  soon ;  at  least,  so  it  seems  to  me, 
in  many  cases  where  they  are  married  as  soon  as  they 
cease  to  be  children.  I  have  heard  of  a  young  girl  who 
was  married  at  fourteen,  and  then  was  sent  by  her  hus- 
band to  a  girls'  school. 

I  paid  a  visit  with  my  friends  on  Sunday  to  the  Shaker 
community  at  New  Lebanon,  which  is  merely  a  few  miles 
distant  from  Lenox.  We  were  again  there  in  a  great 
assembly;  saw  precisely  the  same  figures  in  the  dance, 
and  heard  the  same  kind  of  discourse  and  singing  as  [ 
had  heard  a  year  before.  The  same  friendly  Shaker  -in- 
ters brought  forward  benches  for  the  spectators  ;  the  same 
elder  Evans  stood  up  and  delivered  the  same  kind  of  re- 
proving sermon.  Every  thing  had  stood  still ;  every  thing 
stood  exactly  at  the  same  point,  or  moved  in  the  same 
circle. 

During  my  stay  in  this  part  of  the  country  it  was  very 
cold.     The  stalks  of  the  potatoes  in  the  potato-fields  were 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  599 

quite  destroyed  by  frost.  The  wind  was  keen,  and  full  of 
a  frosty  feeling.  I  never  remember  in  Sweden  to  have 
felt  it  so  cold  in  the  month  of  August. 

I  went  with  the  O.'s  from  Lenox  to  New  York  through 
the  beautiful  Housatonic  Valley,  the  wonderfully  pictur- 
esque and  sometimes  splendidly  gloomy  scenery  of  which 
not  all  the  rattle,  and  the  dust,  and  the  smoke  of  the  rail- 
way could  prevent  me  from  seeing,  though  I  can  not  say 
enjoying,  so  much  does  the  mind  become  confounded  by 
this  mode  of  traveling. 

Not  far  from  New  York  we  removed  into  another  train, 
as  long  as  a  long  street,  and  down  which  we  wandered 
through  lines  of  people,  from  one  carriage  to  another,  be- 
fore we  could  find  places.  This  moving  street  was  a  train 
conveying  certainly  a  thousand  persons.  By  this  we  ar- 
rived at  New  York  ;  nor  was  I  sorry,  with  it,  to  bid  fare- 
well to  American  rail-way  trains.  Excellent  as  they  are 
in  many  respects,  especially  by  the  convenience  they  are 
to  all,  and  by  their  low  prices,  equally  reasonable  to  all, 
they  are  fatiguing  in  a  high  degree.  After  the  first  two 
hours,  there  is  an  end  of  all  pleasure  in  traveling,  and 
one  sinks  into  a  suffering  and  stupid  state  ;  one  feels  one's 
self  not  a  human  being,  but  a  portmanteau,  and  I,  for  my 
part,  can  not  conceive  a  less  beneficial  or  pleasurable 
mode  of  traveling.  One  can  not  enjoy  a  mouthful  of 
fresh  air.  If  the  quantity  of  smoke  and  dust  could  be 
diminished,  it  would  be  a  great  blessing  to  the  travelers. 
The  European  rail- way  trains,  of  wThioh  I  have  any  expe- 
rience, are  all  greatly  superior  to  the  American  in  this 
respect. 

At  New  York  I  parted  with  the  O.'s.  Ah  !  it  was  pain- 
ful for  me  to  part  with  these  friends,  thinking,  probably, 
that  I  might  never  see  him  more  —  my  kind  physician, 
my  beloved  Mary  Anne,  his  wife  !  And  to  the  last  mo- 
ment they  overwhelmed  me  with  proofs  of  love — I  can 
not  call  them  any  thing  else.      Foremost  among  these  I 


600  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

reckon  the  directions  which  he  has  given  for  tne  manage- 
ment of  your  health,  according  to  the  information  I  have 
given  him  of  your  state,  and  the  ample  supply  of  home- 
opathic medicines  which  he  has  provided  both  for  you 
and  me. 

Thus  he  and  she — ah !  my  Agatha,  there  are  little  af- 
fectionate motherly  or  sisterly  attentions  and  kindnesses 
which  are  invaluable  to  the  stranger  in  a  foreign  land, 
and  which  affect  me  more  than  large  gifts,  and  I  have  to 
thank  her  for  such  services,  as  well  as  many  other  moth- 
erly-hearted women,  not  only  in  America,  but  in  Cuba. 
"When  I  think  how  their  hands  labored  for  me,  how  they 
cared  for  me  to  the  most  minute  details,  I  feel  that  I  must 
press  those  hands  to  my  heart  and  to  my  lips.  I  shall  al- 
ways remember  her  kind,  beautiful  countenance,  his  grave 
eyes,  with  their  glance  so  full  of  sentiment,  and  again  I 
shall  most  certainly  behold  them  at  the  resurrection.  It 
can  not  be  otherwise.  The  expression  of  such  spirits  can 
not  die. 

"  There  is  a  natural  body,  and  there  is  a  spiritual  body," 
says  St.  Paul. 

Among  the  friends  who  met  me  in  New  York  was  Pro- 
fessor De  V.,  from  Charlottesville.  But  no  longer  full  of 
cheerfulness.  His  beautiful  home  was  now  a  house  of 
mourning.  His  young  wife,  my  beloved  hostess  there, 
had  died  in  giving  birth  to  her  first  child.  I  was  most 
sincerely  grieved  for  him  and  his  motherless  child. 

I  spent  some  days  at  New  York  in  making  a  closer 
acquaintance  with  that  portion  of  the  life  of  the  great 
city  which  belongs  to  its  night-side,  to  the  dark  realm  of 
shadows  and  of  hell,  as  it  exists  on  the  earth.  I  wander- 
ed through  it,  however,  accompanied  by  an  angel  of  light. 
I  can  not  otherwise  speak  of  the  Quaker  lady  who  accom- 
panied me,  for  her  countenance  was  bright  and  beautiful 
as  the  purest  goodness,  and  above  her  mild  blue  eyes 
arched  themselves  brows  as  bright  as  those  of  the  god 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  601 

Balder  must  have  been — they  resembled  merely  a  bright 
golden  line. 

Mrs.  Of.  is  the  daughter  of  the  celebrated  old  Quaker, 
Isaac  Hopper.  The  daughter  has  inherited  from  the  fa- 
ther that  firm  spirit  of  human  love  and  that  steadfastness 
of  character  which  neither  shrinks  nor  turns  back  from 
any  impediment  on  the  path  which  she  has  resolved  to 
pursue.  A  great  portion  of  her  time  is  occupied  in  caring 
for  the  unfortunate,  the  guilty,  and  the  prisoner ;  and  so 
universally  known  and  respected  is  her  activity  in  these 
respects,  that  all  prisons,  all  public  benevolent  institutions, 
are  open  to  her,  and  whoever  walks  at  her  side  through 
the  abandoned  haunts  of  New  York  may  feel  himself  in 
safety.  Her  bright  and  mild  countenance  is  known  even 
in  the  darkest  places  as  a  messenger  of  light. 

I  went  with  her  one  day  through  that  part  of  New 
York  called  the  Five  Points,  because  I  wished  to  see  this 
region,  in  which  the  rudest  and  the  most  degraded  portion 
of  the  population  of  New  York  were  thronged  together, 
probably  through  the  attraction  which  causes  like  to  seek 
like.  Not  long  ago  it  was  unsafe  for  a  stranger  within 
these  purlieus.  But  the  Methodists  of  New  York  con- 
ceived the  divinely  bold  idea  of  building  a  church  to  God 
in  the  heart  of  this  central  point  of  vice  and  misery.  They 
hired  a  house,  sent  a  minister  to  reside  there,  established 
schools,  work-rooms,  &o.,  which  would  give  ample  space 
for  "  the  other  master."  The  contest  between  good  and 
evil  has  just  begun  in  the  Five  Points,  and  already  sever- 
al signs  betoken  victory. 

The  Five  Points  is  one  of  the  oldest  portions  of  New 
York,  and  received  its  name  from  five  streets  which  open 
here  into  a  large  square.  These  streets,  and  especially 
the  square,  are  the  haunts  of  the  extremest  misery  of  that 
great  city.  Lower  than  to  the  Five  Points  it  is  not  pos- 
sible for  fallen  human  nature  to  sink.  Here  are  public 
dens  of  prostitution,  where  miserable  women  keep  so-call- 

Voi,  TL— C  c 


602  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

ed  "  fancy  -  men"  and  "  fancy  -  women."  Quarrels  and 
blows,  theft  and  even  murder,  belong  to  the  order  of  day 
and  night.  There  is  in  the  square,  in  particular,  one 
large,  yellow-colored,  dilapidated  old  house,  called  "  the 
Old  Brewery,"  because  formerly  it  was  employed  as  such. 
This  house  is  properly  the  head-quarters  of  vice  and  mis- 
ery. And  the  old  brewer  of  all  the  world's  misery,  the 
Evil  One  himself,  has  dominion  there  at  this  day. 

We,  Mrs.  Gr.  and  myself,  went  alone  through  this  house, 
where  we  visited  many  hidden  dens,  and  conversed  with 
their  inhabitants.  "We  considered  it  better  and  safer  to 
go  about  here  alone  than  in  company  with  a  gentleman. 
Neither  did  we  meet  any  instance  of  rudeness  or  even  in- 
civility. We  saw  young  lads  sitting  at  the  gaming-ta- 
ble with  old  ruffians ;  unfortunate  women  suffering  from 
horrible  diseases ;  sickly  children ;  giddy  young  girls ;  ill- 
tempered  women  quarreling  with  the  whole  world;  and 
some  families  also  we  saw,  who  seemed  to  me  wretched 
rather  through  poverty  than  moral  degradation.  From 
unabashed,  hardened  crime,  to  those  who,  sinking  under 
the  consequences  of  vice,  are  passing  down  to  death — 
without  an  ear  to  listen  to  their  groans,  without  sympa- 
thy and  without  hope — is  there,  in  every  grade  of  moral 
corruption,  festering  and  fermenting  in  the  Old  Brewery ; 
filth,  rags,  pestilent  air,  every  thing  was  in  that  Old  Brew- 
ery ;  and  yet  there,  after  all,  I  did  not  see  any  thing  worse 
than  I  had  seen  before  in  Paris,  London,  and  Stockholm. 
Ah !  in  all  large  cities  where  human  masses  congregate, 
may  be  found  the  Old  Brewery  of  vice  and  misery,  and 
where  the  Old  Brewer  distills  his  poison.  ^ he  ofTscouring 
of  society  flows  hither,  becomes  still  more  corrupt,  and 
will  thence  corrupt  the  atmosphere  of  society,  until  the 
fresh  and  better  life  obtains  power  over  the  old  leaven — 
the  new  church  over  the  Old  Brewery.  A  great  movement 
exists  in  this  direction  at  the  present  time.  The  Church 
of  Christ  extends  itself  not  merely  to  the  soul,  but  is  be- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  603 

ginning  to  comprehend  the  whole  human  being ;  to  de- 
velop itself  in  schols,  in  sanitary  wardship,  in  every  kind 
of  institution  which  promotes  the  wholesome  work  of 
Christian  love  on  earth,  "both  for  soul  and  hody,  and  re- 
peats the  words  of  the  Lord  to  the  leper:  "I  will;  be 
thou  clean !" 

From  the  Old  Brewery  and  its  horrible  figures  we  went 
to  the  Mission  House  in  the  square  directly  opposite,  and 
had  a  long  conversation  with  the  missionary,  Mr.  N.,  a 
man  with  a  dark,  bold  eye,  and  that  faith  in  God  which 
can  remove  mountains,  and  with  somewhat  of  that  faith 
also  in  himself  which  may  tend  to  self-deception,  and  to 
the  belief  that  more  is  done  than  is  actually  the  case. 
Certain  it  is,  however,  that  hasty  conversions  of  sinners, 
long  accustomed  to  the  indulgence  of  besetting  vices,  are 
rare,  and  not  to  be  too  much  relied  upon.  Hypocrisy  is 
also  one  scheme  of  the  old  serpent's. 

In  the  middle  of  the  square  of  the  Five  Points  there  is, 
as  in  many  squares  of  New  York,  a  little  green  inclosure 
of  trees  and  bushes.  It  looks,  however,  dry  and  withered ; 
no  careful  hands  water  the  trees  which  attempt  to  put 
forth  foliage,  and  on  the  fencing  around  it  hang  rags  to 
dry. 

It  has  often  struck  me  how  chance,  or  a  mysterious 
foreknowledge,  which,  without  human  consciousness,  con- 
cerns itself  with  human  affairs,  gives  symbolic,  or,  as  it 
were,  prophetic  appellations  to  things,  places,  or  persons 
who  afterward  accomplish  that  which  their  appellations 
seem  to  have  predestined  them  to.  This  I  found  to  be 
the  case  with  regard  to  the  Five  Points,  the  Old  Brewery, 
and  the  prison  which  nearly  abuts  upon  this  region.  The 
great  prison  of  the  city  of  New  York  is  called  the  Tombs, 
from  the  massive,  monumental  style  of  building  employed 
in  it.  The  prison  itself  is  of  granite,  and  in  the  Egyptian 
style — heavy,  but  magnificent.  A  massive  lofty  granite 
wall,  like  the  wall  of  a  fortress,  surrounds  the  court,  in 


604  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

which  stands  the  prison-house  like  a  vast,  regular,  mass- 
ive block  of  hewn  granite.  "When  one  stands  within  the 
magnificent  portals  of  this  wall,  one  seems  to  stand  with- 
in a  gigantic  tomb.  And  so  it  is.  It  gives  admittance 
to  the  offscouring  of  the  criminals  of  the  great  city.  One 
portion  condemned  and  executed  here,  another  portion 
conveyed  hence  to  Blackwell's  Island,  where  is  situated 
the  House  of  Correction  proper  for  New  York.  Few  are 
they  who  leave  this  place  free,  who  do  not  return  hither 
to  be  more  severely  punished  or  to  die.  The  Old  Brew- 
ery furnishes  unceasing  food  for  the  Tombs. 

Before  the  door  of  the  prison,  in  the  interior  court,  sat  a 
fine  general,  in  a  comfortable  arm-chair,  as  keeper  or  or- 
derly of  the  prison,  with  diamond  rings  on  his  fingers,  and 
a  diamond  breast-pin  in  his  shirt.  "Whether  they  were 
genuine,  I  can  not  say;  they  looked,  however,  as  though 
they  were ;  but  that  the  man  himself  was  not  of  genuine 
human  worth  was  not  difficult  to  see,  neither  that  he  was 
out  of  his  place  here  He  was  in  a  high  degree  haughty 
and  self-sufficient,  and  did  not  even  raise  his  hat  to  the 
noble,  beautiful  lady  who  addressed  him,  much  less  raise 
himself.  She  showed  her  card  of  introduction,  and  we 
were  allowed  to  pass  in,  first  into  a  room  in  which  many 
of  the  officials  of  the  prison  were  assembled.  The  person 
who  was  evidently  the  principal  here,  a  fat  man  with  a 
large  face,  sat  with  his  hat  on  his  head  and  one  of  his  feet 
placed  high  against  the  wall,  and  one  newspaper  hanging 
over  his  leg,  while  he  was  busy  reading  another  which  he 
held  in  his  hands.  On  Mrs.  Gr.  mildly  and  politely  ad- 
dressing him,  he  turned  his  head  toward  us  slightly,  but 
neither  raised  his  hat  nor  his  upraised  foot  from  the  wall, 
and  then  putting  some  question  with  as  surly  a  mien  as 
if  he  had  been  addressing  some  person  in  custody,  let  us 
wait  a  moment,  after  which  we  were  allowed  to  enter, 
which  probably  would  not  have  been  the  case  if  he  dared 
to  have  hindered  it.     We  could  not  avoid  remarking  that 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  605 

many  of  these  jailers  looked  as  if  they  ought  to  have  been 
among  the  prisoners,  nay,  even  looked  much  worse  than 
many  of  them. 

I  could  not  but  be  greatly  surprised  at  the  disorder 
which  prevailed  in  the  great  prison  of  the  men,  which  is 
built  of  an  elliptical  form,  with  a  gallery  running  in  front 
of  the  cells.  The  prisoners  were  walking  about,  talking, 
smoking  cigars,  while  dealers  in  cigars  and  other  wares 
were  wending  about  freely  among  them.  Many  of  the 
cells  were  occupied  by  two  prisoners.  There  were  several 
condemned  prisoners — two  condemned  to  death.  I  asked 
one  of  these,  who  was  a  man  of  some  little  education,  how 
he  felt  himself  in  prison?  "Oh,"  replied  he,  with  bitter 
irony,  "  as  well  as  any  one  can  do  who  has  every  moment 
of  the  twenty-four  hours  his  sentence  of  death  before  his 
eyes ;"  and  he  showed  me  a  paper  pasted  on  the  wall,  on 
which  might  be  read,  badly  written,  the  day  and  hour  when 
he  was  to  be  hanged.  The  prisoners  were  much  more  po- 
lite and  agreeable  to  us  than  the  gentlemen  on  duty  had 
been.  Some  of  them  seemed  pleased  by  our  visit,  and 
thanked  us,  and  talked  in  a  cordial  manner. 

While  we  were  there,  a  drunken  old  man  was  brought 
into  the  lower  part  of  the  prison.  The  manner  in  which 
he  was  carried  in  and  thrown  into  the  cell  exhibited  a  high 
degree  of  coarseness.  I  was  the  whole  time  in  one  con- 
tinued state  of  amazement  that  a  prison  in  the  United 
States — the  prisons  of  which  country  have  been  so  highly 
praised  in  Europe — should  present  such  scenes  and  be  in 
such  a  condition.  But  the  city  of  New  York,  like  the  pris- 
ons of  New  York,  are  not  the  specimens  by  which  Amer- 
ican cities  and  prisons  should  be  judged.  The  prison  of 
Philadelphia  was  very  unlike  this. 

We  found  the  condition  of  the  female  portion  of  the 
Tombs  very  unlike  that  of  the  males.  Here  a  woman 
had  sway,  and  she  was  one  of  those  genial,  powerful  char- 
acters which  can  create  around  them  a  new  state  of  order, 


606  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

governed  by  wholesome  influences.  Her  form,  which  in- 
dicated great  cordiality  and  considerable  physical  power, 
seemed  made,  as  it  were,  to  sustain  the  children  of  the 
prison — to  elevate,  not  to  depress  them.  She  was  cheer- 
ful, and  hearty,  and  good-tempered,  yet  nevertheless  so 
resolute  with  the  prisoners  that  none  of  them  ventured  to 
oppose  her.  Many  seemed  to  look  upon  her  as  a  mother, 
and  she  seemed  to  regard  many  of  them  as  diseased  chil- 
dren rather  than  as  criminals ;  this  was  the  case,  in  par- 
ticular, with  those  who  were  imprisoned  for  drunkenness. 

"  Oh,  Miss  Foster  !  oh,  Miss  Foster !"  lamented  one 
scarcely  half  conscious  woman,  who  was  waking  up  in  one 
cell  from  a  fit  of  drunkenness,  "I  am  now  here  again!" 

"  Yes,  that  you  are,  you  poor  thing!"  said  Miss  Fos- 
ter, and  went  compassionately  to  lift  her  head  from  the 
extremely  uneasy  position  into  which  it  had  fallen  in  her 
drunken  sleep. 

"When  she  entered  the  cells,  the  prisoners  talked  to  her 
as  to  a  guardian  and  a  friend.  One  woman,  who  had  been 
imprisoned  many  times,  and  brought  hither  for  drunken- 
ness, but  who  always,  during  the  time  of  her  imprison- 
ment, had  behaved  in  the  most  exemplary  manner,  had 
become  so  attached  to  Miss  Foster  that  she  begged  to  be 
allowed  always  to  remain  in  prison,  where  she  would  as- 
sist Miss  Foster.  This  had  been  permitted  to  her,  and 
she  was  very  useful  to  Miss  Foster  in  the  prison. 

One  room  in  the  prison  is  called  "  The  Five  Days' 
Room,"  or  "  The  Incurable's  Room ;"  here  women  are 
taken  who  have  been  repeatedly  found  in  a  state  of  drunk- 
enness. After  five  days'  confinement  they  are  dismissed. 
From  the  prisoners'  room  we  went  into  the  court  where 
the  five-days'  prisoners  sit  during  the  day,  after  they  have 
slept  out  their  debauch.  Here  between  forty  and  fifty 
women  were  assembled,  many  of  whom  were  quite  young, 
and  some  handsome.  Among  these  women  were  also  fe- 
male vagrants,  or  such  as  had  been  taken  up  for  quarrel- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  607 

ing  and  making  disturbances  in  the  streets  during  the 
night.  One  of  these,  a  very  young  and  pretty  woman,1 
wept  bitterly.  Mrs.  Gr.  spoke  kindly  to  her,  and  asked 
her  whether  she  would  not  come  into  the  Home  (mean- 
ing the  Home  in  New  York  for  fallen  women),  and  there 
be  well  cared  for,  and  receive  instruction,  and  afterward 
be  placed  in  service  with  some  respectable  family.  She 
gratefully  accepted  the  offer,  and  the  whole  thing  was  ar- 
ranged. As  soon  as  her  five  days  of  imprisonment  had 
expired,  she  was  to  be  received  into  the  Home.  Thus  is 
the  lost  sheep  sought  for  among  the  tombs,  and  brought 
again  under  the  care  of  the  Good  Shepherd  and  his  faith- 
ful servants. 

The  same  question  was  put  by  Mrs.  Gr.  to  another  young 
woman,  a  handsome  but  wild  Irish  girl.  She  replied  scorn- 
fully, "  No!  she  would  not  go  to  such  a  place!"  "  Why 
not?"  inquired  Mrs.  Gr.,  smiling  kindly;  "  is  it  not  a  good 
place?"  "Oh  yes,  ma'am,  a  very  good  place,  very  good, 
but — yet  I  won't  go  there." 

That  wild  spirit  evidently  required  a  long  trial  yet  be- 
fore it  would  yield. 

There  also  were  two  young  negro  women :  I  asked  one 
if  she  were  a  Christian. 

"  No,  ma'am,"  replied  she. 

"Have  you  not  heard  of  Christ?" 

"Yes,  ma'am." 

"Don't  you  love  him?" 

"Yes,  oh  yes,  him,  but — I  have  seen  many  things;  I 
can  not  become  a  Christian." 

"But  why  not,  if  you  love  Christ?" 

"  I  have  been  servant  with  many  Christians  ;  I  have 
seen  many  things :  I  can  not  turn  to  a  Christian." 

She  would  give  no  other  reason. 

During  our  conversation  with  these  women,  I  could  not 
but  observe  that  they  were  attentive,  and,  as  it  were, 
struck  by  every  rational  word  which  was  spoken  to  them 


608  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

in  a  calm  and  kind  manner.  Opposition  and  boldness  of 
expression  in  all  instances  gave  way,  and  a  Letter,  more 
thoughtful  expression  took  its  place.  These  souls  were 
evidently  not  hardened,  and  would  open  themselves  to  re- 
ceive the  again  and  again  recurring  rays  of  light. 

We  found  a  great  number  of  the  prisoners  out  in  the 
large  court  which  surrounded  the  interior  of  the  prison, 
and  among  them  a  boy  of  about  ten  years  of  age. 

"What  had  he  done,  to  be  a  prisoner  here?" 

"Nothing,"  was  the  reply;  but  he  had  been  found  at 
night  in  the  streets,  lying  now  here,  now  there,  and  could 
not  give  any  account  of  a  residence,  and  as  they  did  not 
know  what  to  do  with  him,  they  had  brought  him  in  hith- 
er, where  he  had  been  for  a  long  time.  While  we  talked 
with  the  little  boy,  many  of  the  prisoners  collected  around 
us,  all  speaking  kind  words  to  the  boy,  and  praising  him 
greatly.  I  saw  tears  flow  from  the  eyes  of  the  motherly 
lady  over  the  neglected  motherless  boy,  and  I  heard  her 
softly  promise  to  take  charge  of  him,  and  come  and  take 
him  out. 

While  we  were  thus  standing  here,  we  perceived  a 
movement  in  the  court.  The  gates  were  heard  to  open, 
and  the  words  "  The  Black  Maria  !  the  Black  Maria !" 
passed  through  the  crowd.  And  in  came  through  the  gates 
of  the  prison  court  a  large  sort  of  wooden  chest,  or  cara- 
van, painted  red,  and  drawn  by  two  horses.  This  was  the 
vehicle  which  each  day  fetched  from  the  various  stations 
in  the  city  such  persons  as  have  been  found  by  the  police 
out  in  the  streets  during  the  night,  and  had  been  convey- 
ed to  station-houses.  They  were  carried  to  the  Tombs 
to  undergo  examination  and  receive  sentence.  This  red 
vehicle  has  received  the  name  of  the  Black  Maria  from 
its  having  first  driven  a  black  woman  of  that  name  to  the 
Tombs. 

The  red  omnibus  drew  up  before  a  gate  of  the  prison, 
the  door  was  opened,  as  in  any  other  omnibus,  and  out 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  609 

came  boys,  and  women,  and  men,  many  of  them  resem- 
bling the  personages  of  the  Old  Brewery.  They  disap- 
peared within  the  prison,  and  the  vehicle  was  then  im- 
mediately refilled  with  a  new  load,  who  were  now  to  be 
conveyed  from  the  Tombs  to  the  House  of  Correction  on 
Black  well's  Island. 

"We  were  shown  within  the  court  the  place  where  crim- 
inals are  executed. 

Before  I  leave  the  Tombs,  I  must  give  a  parting  glance 
at  Miss  Foster  —  that  living,  geniaj,  bright  form  among 
the  Tombs ;  for  her  face,  her  cordiality,  her  patience,  and 
good  humor,  the  vigorous  strength  and  perseverance  with 
which  she  has  lived  for  many  years  among  the  population 
of  the  Tombs,  was  a  heart-strengthening  sight.  She  had, 
within  the  court  of  the  female  prison,  had  a  little  flower- 
garden  laid  out  and  planted  with  flowers  ;  and  mignonette 
diffused  its  fragrance  around,  geraniums  were  in  blossom, 
and  Provence  roses  in  bud :  to  such  prisoners  as  behaved 
well,  or  were  very  much  cast  down,  she  gave  some  of 
these  flowers.  I  received  from  her  hand  a  Provence  rose- 
bud, which  I  have  kept  in  memory  of  her,  and  the  hope 
of  the  Tombs ;  for  within  these  Tombs  I  had  beheld  the 
work  of  resurrection. 

Yet  still  I  had  received  a  gloomy  impression  from  them. 
And  I  heard  that  in  the  great  prison  of  Sing- Sing,  dark 
scenes  and  abuse  in  the  wardship  of  the  prisoners  have 
lately  occurred.  The  society  for  the  visiting  of  prisoners, 
of  which  Isaac  Hopper  is  a  member,  has  within  a  shert 
period  revealed  several  such  facts.  This  society  exercises 
a  salutary  control  over  the  wardens  of  prisons,  and  their 
conduct  and  government,  and  it  performs  its  work  without 
hostility  or  opposition. 

The  following  day,  in  company  with  Mrs.  Gr.,  I  visited 
the  institution  for  poor  or  orphan  children,  on  Randall's 
Island,  a  salubrious  and  excellent  locale  for  the  purpose. 
Here  were  large  houses  for  the  children,  and  a  large  hos- 

Cc2 


610  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

pital  for  the  sick  among  them,  and  all  was  in  the  highest 
degree  orderly,  neat,  and  in  good  condition  as  regarded 
ontward  management ;  not  so  with  regard  to  the  inward. 
Among  these  ten  or  twelve  hundred  children,  there  lacked 
mothers  or  motherly  women.  The  children  were  well 
kept,  but  like  machines  in  a  manufactory ;  they  produced 
on  my  mind  a  sorrowful  impression ;  although  their  spirit 
of  life  was  not  destroyed,  they  could  be  unruly  enough 
sometimes.  The  superintendent,  whom  I  saw  sitting 
among  brightly-scoured  copper  kettles,  produced  upon  me 
herself  the  effect  of  a  copper  vessel,  so  hard  and  dismal 
did  she  look,  not  in  the  least  like  Miss  Foster.  And  a 
Miss  Foster,  and  many  such  as  her,  are  so  necessary  for 
the  mother  warders  and  educators  of  such  poor  children 
as  these !  Here,  it  is  true,  there  is  one  warm-hearted 
and  benevolent  woman ;  but  age  and  increasing  ill  health 
have  disabled  her  for  activity.  The  copper-madam  was 
also  old  and  dried-up  enough  to  have  taken  her  leave,  but 
she  was  retained,  it  was  said,  for  "  consideration'  sake." 

But  a  still  sadder  impression  was  produced  upon  me  by 
the  hospital  for  sick  children,  well  kept  and  well  managed 
as  it  seemed  to  be  with  regard  to  cleanliness  and  general 
Convenience.  A  number  of  children,  for  instance,  who 
are  here  for  diseases  of  the  eyes,  were  sitting  in  formal 
circles  on  the  floor,  without  having  any  thing  to  do  or  any 
thing  to  play  with.     They  sat  silent  and  inanimate. 

"  Have  these  little  ones  no  playthings  ?"  asked  I. 
„    "  They  had  had  playthings  given  them  by  the  ladies, 
but  they  only  broke  them,"  was  the  reply. 

"  But  are  they  not  allowed  to  employ  themselves  with 
any  thing  ?" 

"  They  must  do  nothing  on  account  of  their  eyes." 

Any  one  who  knows  how  easily  children  will  create  for 
themselves  a  whole  little  world  of  living  objects  merely 
with  little  stones,  pieces  of  wood,  fir-cones,  and  such  like 
trifles,  and  how  happy  they  will  be  with  them,  must  won- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  01 1 

der  to  3ee  these  little  creatures  so  devoid  of  all  means  o 
enjoyment  and  pastime,  because  "  they  break  their  play 
things."    And  if  they  do,  what  is  that  in  comparison  with 
the  blankness  and  deadness  of  life  which  they  are  now 
reduced  to,  and  which  must  convert  them  into  idiots  if  it 
is  long  continued  thus  ? 

There  were  at  the  Deaconess's  institution  at  Kaisers- 
worth  children  also  with  diseases  of  the  eye,  but  how 
cheerful  and  animated  they  were,  each  and  all  occupied 
with  games  or  little  playthings  which  did  not  require  eye- 
sight. All  could  sing  cheerful  and  beautiful  songs,  and 
gentle  sisters,  the  deaconesses,  took  motherly  charge  of 
them. 

These  institutions  on  Randall's  Island  as  little  corre- 
sponded with  that  which  one  has  a  right  to  expect  from 
the  Christian  mind  and  power  of  the  New  World  as  the 
prison  of  New  York.  The  mismanagement  of  the  prison- 
ers is  chargeable  upon  the  men,  that  of  the  children  upon 
the  women. 

The  Houses  of  Correction  on  Blackwell's  Island  are  cel- 
ebrated for  being  well  managed,  and  for  fully  accomplish- 
ing their  intention,  and  it  was  my  intention  to  have  vis- 
ited them;  but  Marcus  S.  and  W.  H.  Channing  had  in- 
vited me  to  a  meeting  of  the  North  American  Phalanstery, 
and  this  was  what  I  could  not  by  any  means  neglect. 
On  the  29th,  therefore,  I  left  New  York  in  company  with 
Channing. 

It  was  an  indescribably  beautiful  day.  The  softest 
breezes  wafted  us  from  New  York  to  the  shore  of  New 
Jersey.  Here  we  were  met  by  the  wagon  of  the  Phalan- 
stery, and  joined  by  various  persons  from  other  places 
who  were  all  bound  on  a  visit  to  the  Phalanstery. 

Yery  different  scenes,  and  very  different  faces  to  those 
I  had  just  seen  in  New  York  met  us  here. 

When  we  arrived  at  the  little,  dark  wooded  gorge  which 
serves  as  a  sort  of  portal  to  the  territory  of  the  harmonious 


612  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

association,  we  were  surprised  by.  the  sight  of  Marcus  S., 
who  came  driving  along  in  his  "  buggy,"  drawn  by  Dolly 
— buggy,  Dolly,  and  Marcus  himself  all  garlanded  with 
the  blossoming  wild  clematis.  I  alighted  from  the  wagon 
and  seated  myself  beside  Marcus,  and  thus  we  advanced 
slowly  toward  the  Phalanstery,  seated  in  a  flowery,  fra- 
grant arbor.  We  were  met  in  the  park  by  the  children  and 
young  people,  and  even  by  some  elderly  ones,  all  wearing 
green  garlands  and  flowers.  It  was  the  most  beautiful 
and  the  gayest  procession  which  can  be  conceived.  As  we 
passed  along  we  saw  a  group  of  agricultural  laborers 
standing  in  the  shade  of  a  tree,  busied  in  eating  an  im- 
mense water-melon.     It  was  just  now  dinner-time. 

Marcus  S.  had,  during  last  year,  built  himself  a  lovely 
little  house  at  the  Phalanstery,  in  order  to  enjoy  there, 
with  his  family,  the  good  air  and  sea-bathing  during  the 
summer.  The  family  lived  here  by  themselves,  but  took 
their  meals  at  the  Phalanstery.  I  had  here,  as  formerly 
at  Rose  Cottage,  my  own  room  in  the  house  of  my  friends, 
and  I  now  accompanied  them  to  dinner  at  the  Phalan- 
stery. 

Dinner  was  spread  on  small,  separate  tables,  twelve  or 
fourteen  in  number,  in  a  very  large,  oblong  hall,  with 
windows  in  two  sides  :  the  freshest  air  was  admitted  by 
these  lofty  windows.  At  the  bottom  of  the  hall  was  placed 
a  well-executed  but  somewhat  fantastic  painting  of  the 
Phalansterian  Association  in  its  perfected  state  on  earth, 
and  above  this  were  the  words,  "  The  Great  Joy,"  formed 
in  evergreen  leaves. 

The  tables,  which  would  each  conveniently  accommo- 
date from  ten  to  twelve  guests,  were  brilliant  with  white 
linen  and  porcelain.  The  group  of  waiters  consisted  of 
handsome  youths  and  young  girls,  all  with  artistically 
formed  wreaths  of  leaves  around  their  heads.  To  these 
the  good  Marcus,  also,  now  associated  himself.  A  more 
beautiful  group  or  a  more  gay  dinner-scene  it  would  not 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  G13 

be  easy  to  nna.  The  dishes  were  simple,  but  remarkably 
excellent  and  well-served.  There  was  neither  wine,  nor 
the  drinking  of  toasts,  nor  yet  songs,  but  a  cheerful,  soft 
murmur  of  kindly  conversing  voices  was  heard  uninter- 
ruptedly during  the  whole  meal,  and  mingled  itself  with 
the  pleasantly  fanning  breezes,  with  the  sight  of  all  those 
cheerful,  healthy  countenances,  and  those  lovely  young 
people  who  floated  round  the  tables  like  beautiful,  benefi- 
cent ministering  spirits,  all  united  to  make  this  meal-time 
more  festal  than  any  could  be  with  sparkling  Champagne 
and  music. 

A  great  improvement  had  taken  place  in  the  Phalanstery 
since  I  had  been  there  two  years  before.  A  new  house 
had  been  built,  and  besides  the  large  hall  they  then  had, 
another  had  been  erected  called  "  The  Little  Joy."  The 
kitchen  had  been  furnished  with  steam  apparatus  for  cook- 
ing, which  was  a  great  saving  not  only  of  time  and  labor, 
but  of  expense,  both  in  cooking  and  washing.  Mr.  Arnold, 
formerly  the  minister  and  farmer,  was  now  the  President 
of  the  Phalanstery,  and  his  constructive  brain  had  made 
itself  useful  as  regarded  the  introduction  of  many  excel- 
lent practical  arrangements.  The  members  of  the  associ- 
ation had  now  increased  to  one  hundred  persons,  and  many 
families  had  erected  small  dwellings  around  the  principal 
buildings,  where  they  lived,  probably  in  the  same  rela- 
tionship to  the  Phalanstery  as  the  family  of  my  friends, 
and  watching  with  great  interest  the  development  of  the 
institution. 

After  dinner  the  company  assembled  in  the  park,  be- 
neath some  large,  shadowy  trees  ;  large  baskets  of  melons 
were  carried  thither,  with  which  the  people  were  splendid- 
ly regaled.  I  have  never  seen  any  where  such  an  abund- 
ance of  melons  ;  they  were  here  by  hundreds  ;  nor  have  I 
ever  tasted  any  so  good,  sweet,  juicy,  and  fine-flavored. 
The  Canteloup-melons  were  especially  remarkable.  The 
soil  in  this  part  of  the  country,  especially  in  New  Jersey, 
is  celebrated  for  the  production  of  fine  fruit. 


614  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

I  spent  three  days  at  the  Phalanstery,  amid  a  variety 
of  scenes,  many  of  which  greatly  interested  me.  Foremost 
among  these  I  place  a  meeting,  which  was  brought  about 
by  Channing,  for  the  consideration  of  the  social  position 
of  woman,  and  what  it  requires  ;  her  sufferings,  their 
causes,  and  the  means  for  averting  them.  The  assembly 
consisted  of  about  twenty  women,  and  of  those  men  whom 
they  invited.  It  was  an  assembly  of  thoughtful,  gentle 
countenances.  The  office  of  spokesman  was  unanimously 
assigned  to  Channing.  He  opened,  therefore,  the  meeting 
with  a  representation  of  those  sufferings  which  may  befall 
a  woman  through  the  noblest  and  the  best  part  of  her  na- 
ture, under  the  existing  state  of  society.  I  listened  to  him 
with  feelings  which  I  have  difficulty  in  describing. 

"  Is  it  possible,"  thought  I,  "  is  it  really  true,  that  I  hear 
a  man  thus  aware  of,  thus  understand  the  sighs,  the  ag- 
ony, the  yearnings  which  I  myself,  during  a  greater  por- 
tion of  my  life,  experienced  almost  to  despair — which  many 
experience  as  I  did,  and  under  which  many  also  sink?  Is 
it  a  man  whom  I  hear  speaking  for  the  captive,  and  de- 
manding liberation?  And  do  I  hear  through  him  really 
that  a  better  time  is  approaching,  a  more  just,  more  en- 
lightened, more  holy  ?  Is  it  not  a  dream  ?  Shall  really  the 
time  of  silent  sighs  cease  upon  earth  ?  Shall  there  be  light, 
and  a  path,  and  freedom,  and  a  heaven  opened  to  all  ?" 

I  looked  around  on  the  assembly.  There  were  some 
beautiful  women  with  thoughtful  brows,  whose  remark- 
able destinies  spoke  powerfully  for  the  reform  which  the 
speaker  demanded ;  there  were  gentle,  motherly  women, 
such  as  Marcus's  sisters,  Mrs.  A.  and  Rebecca,  who,  amid 
their  own  domestic  happiness,  had  not  lost  the  feeling  of 
citizen-life,  had  not  ceased  to  sympathize  with  their  less 
fortunate  sisters ;  there  was  Channing,  with  his  noble  and 
pure  countenance  glowing  with  inspiration ;  there  was  the 
earnest  President  of  the  Association,  the  good  Marcus,  and 
many  others,  in  whom  I  recognized  the  representatives  of 
the  highest  conscience  of  humanitv 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  615 

As  I  cast  my  eyes  around,  they  fell  upon  a  picture,  the 
only  one  in  the  room ;  it  was  a  beautiful  engraving,  repre- 
senting the  dance  of  the  hours  around  the  flower-strewn 
car  of  Time.  I  thought  of  (xeijer,  in  the  prophetic  visions 
and  dreams  in  which  this  true  seer  beheld  the  advance  of 
the  new  time,  and  hailed  it  with  rejoicing  shortly  before 
he  quitted  this  earthly  scene.  Oh !  that  he  had  been  here ; 
that  he  had  heard  and  seen  the  time  here  arrived  of  which 
he  had  dreamed  and  spoken  so  rapturously,  unintelligibly 
to  many,  yet  not  so  to  me,  in  his  last  moments.  The 
memory  of  him — of  the  past ;  the  impression  of  the  pres- 
ent, of  the  future,  took  hold  upon  me  with  almost  over- 
whelming power. 

Excepting  the  speech  of  Channing,  the  meeting  did  not 
produce  any  thing  which  remained  in  my  memory.  The 
subjects  which  were  here  touched  upon  will  be  still  further 
pursued  and  developed  at  the  great  Woman's  Convention 
which  will  be  held  in  the  beginning  of  October,  at  Wor- 
cester, in  Massachusetts,  and  which  will  be  attended  by 
many  of  the  members  now  here  present,  my  friends,  Mar- 
cus and  Rebecca,  among  the  rest.  They  wish  me  also  to 
be  there,  and  I  would  very  gladly,  but  on  the  13th  instant 
I  must  leave  America  for  Europe.  I  must  see  England 
on  my  return,  and  I  should,  in  that  case,  be  too  long  de- 
tained from  home. 

While  I  am  on  the  subject  of  woman's  position  in  soci- 
ety, and  Women's  Rights'  Conventions,  I  will  say  a  few 
words  about  them.  I  am  very  glad  of  the  latter,  because 
they  cause  many  facts,  and  many  good  thoughts  to  become 
public.  I  rejoice  at  the  nobility  and  prudence  with  which 
many  female  speakers  stand  forth  ;  at  the  profound  truths, 
worthy  of  all  consideration,  which  many  of  them  utter;  at 
the  depth  of  woman's  experience  of  life,  her  sufferings,  and 
yearnings,  which  through  them  come  to  light ;  I  rejoice 
and  am  amazed  to  see  so  many  distinguished  men  sym- 
pathize in  this  movement,  and  support  the  women  in  their 


616  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

public  appearance,  often  presenting  the  subject  in  language 
still  stronger  than  they  themselves  use.  I  rejoice  also  that 
society,  with  decision  peculiar  to  the  Anglo- American  spirit 
of  association,  has  so  rapidly  advanced  from  talking  to  ac- 
tion— has  divided  into  separate  committees,  for  the  devel- 
opment of  the  separate  branches  of  the  subject,  preparatory 
to  new  social  arrangements. 

But  I  do  not  rejoice  at  some  lesser,  well-intentioned 
measures  and  steps  which  have  been  proposed ;  do  not  re- 
joice at  the  tone  of  accusation  and  bravado  which  has  now 
and  then  been  assumed  in  the  Convention,  and  at  several 
expressions  less  noble  and  beautiful. 

It  must,  however,  be  confessed,  that  these  clouds  on  the 
heaven  of  the  new  morning  are  few  and  fleeting  in  com- 
parison with  the  vast  and  pure  portions  of  light.  Conven- 
tions are  good,  because  they  give  emphasis  to  the  great 
new  moment  of  life  in  the  community ;  they  are  good  as 
a  sifting  wind  separating  the  chaff  from  the  wheat.  They 
will,  if  rightly  conducted,  hasten  on  the  approaching  day ; 
if  otherwise,  they  will  retard  it.  There  are  signs  enough, 
both  in  Europe  and  in  this  country,  which  predict  the  ap- 
proach of  a  time,  of  which  Moses  already  prophesied  in  the 
words, 

"  The  daughters  enter  in." 

And  if  you  should  say,  as  you  once  said  when  we  spoke 
on  this  subject, 

"  Then  all  the  wrong-headed  will  rule,  and  the  whole 
corps  will  be  disgraced !" 

To  which  I  will  reply,  "I  am  not  afraid  of  that,  and  less 
so  now  than  ever.  Look  at  the  Society  of  Friends,  and 
at  the  small  Socialist  community  at  this  place.  All  the 
women  in  these  have  the  right  to  speak  in  the  public  as- 
semblies, but  none  avail  themselves  of  the  right  but  they 
who  have  talent  for  it,  or  who  have  something  very  good 
to  say.  All  participate  in  the  government,  but  it  is  done 
quietly,  and  evidently  for  the  best  interests  of  the  com- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  617 

munity.  Neither  does  one  ever  hear  of  quarrels  "between 
the  men  and  women,  of  disunion  and  separation  between 
married  couples.  "With  affectionately  conceded  privileges, 
the  spirit  of  opposition  and  disquiet  is  generally  appeased. 
The  power  of  reason  and  affection  obtain  greater  power. 
Thoughtfulness  and  gentleness  are  the  distinguishing  feat- 
ures of  these  free  women." 

A  case  of  decision  by  general  vote  in  the  Phalanstery 
has  just  lately  proved  in  a  striking  manner  the  good  influ- 
ence of  the  pure  spirit  and  morals  of  home  on  the  affairs 
of  the  community,  through  its  direct  influence  from  the 
heart  and  centre  of  the  home. 

"  The  Grauls,"  Tacitus  tells  us,  "  on  important  occasions 
summoned  a  select  assembly  of  women  into  the  councils, 
and  their  voice  gave  the  final  decision." 

When  the  female  consciousness  of  life  becomes  that 
which  it  may  be  in  our  time,  its  influence  must  be  most 
beneficial  in  the  councils  of  the  community.  As  it  is,  this 
is  now  deprived  of  that  fructifying  life  which  bekmgs  to 
the  sphere  of  the  mother,  and  the  home  does  not  now  edu- 
cate citizens  and  citizenesses. 

Not  that  I  imagine  a  new  and  better  state  of  things 
would  bring  forth  perfection.  Ah !  no  one  can  have  ar- 
rived at  fifty  without,  both  from  one's  own  shortcomings 
and  those  of  others,  being  too  well  acquainted  with  hu- 
man imperfection  to  believe  that  every  thing  is  to  become 
perfect  upon  earth ;  but  somewhat  better  they  will  be  nev- 
ertheless, when  they  who  are  the  mothers  and  foster-moth- 
ers of  the  human  race  become  as  good  and  as  wise  as  the 
light  of  an  extended  sphere  of  life  can  make  them — when 
that  fountain  of  light  with  which  the  Creator  has  endow- 
ed their  nature  can  flow  forth  unimpeded,  and  diffuse  its 
living  waters  within  the  home  and  social  life. 

I  can  not  see  it  otherwise.  I  believe  that  this  develop- 
ment of  liberty  is  the  profoundest  and  the  most  vital  prin- 
ciple upon  which  the  regeneration  of  society  depends,  and 


618  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

upon  which  the  greatness  and  the  happiness  of  the  New 
World  depends. 

"  The  darkness  of  the  mother  casts  its  gloom  over  the 
child;  the  clearness  of  the  mother  casts  its  light  over  the 
child  from  generation  to  generation^ 

It  is  in  this  conviction  that  I  will  unite  myself  to  the 
Convention,  and  say  with  it, 

"  Sing  unto  the  Lord  a  new  song;  sing  unto  the  Lord, 
all  the  earth." 

And  now  again  to  the  Phalanstery. 

In  the  evening  of  the  second  day  after  our  arrival,  there 
was  a  little  play  and  a  hall.  A  lively  little  piece,  but  with- 
out any  very  profound  meaning,  was  acted  very  well  by  a 
number  of  the  young  people.  Many  of  the  young  ladies 
made  their  appearance  at  the  ball  in  the  so-called  Bloomer 
costume,  that  is  to  say,  short  dresses  made  to  the  throat, 
and  trowsers.  This  costume,  which  is,  in  reality,  much 
more  modest  than  that  of  the  ordinary  ball-room,  and  which 
looks  extremely  well  on  young  ladies  in  their  every-day 
occupations,  is  not  advantageous  for  a  ball-room,  and  is 
not  at  all  becoming  in  the  waltz,  unless  the  skirts  are  very 
short,  which  was  the  case  with  two  otherwise  remarkably 
well-dressed  and  very  pretty  young  girls.  Some  of  them 
had  really  in  their  Bloomer  costume  a  certain  fantastic 
grace ;  but  when  I  compared  this  with  the  true  feminine 
grace  which  exhibited  itself  in  some  young  girls  with  long 
dresses,  and  in  other  respects  equally  modest  attire  with 
the  Bloomer  ladies,  I  could  not  but  give  the  palm  to  the 
long  dresses.  Among  the  most  graceful  of  the  dancers  in 
long  dresses  was  the  lovely  Abbie  A.,  the  daughter  of  the 
President  of  the  Phalanstery. 

The  ball  was  in  other  respects  far  more  beautiful  (even 
if  the  toilets  of  the  ladies  were  not  so  elegant),  and  the 
dancing  in  much  better  taste,  than  that  which  I  saw  at 
Saratoga. 

When  I  was  making  a  sketch  in  my  room  of  the  beau- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  619 

tifui  groups  of  waiters  at  the  first  day's  dinner,  I  asked 
them,  one  after  the  other,  if  they  were  happy  in  their  life 
at  this  place.  They  replied  unanimously  that  they  could 
not  imagine  themselves  happy  under  other  circumstances. 
Life  appeared  to  them  rich  and  beautiful.  How  many 
young  people  in  the  home  of  the  Old  "World  could  give  the 
same  reply? 

Among  the  ladies  now  members  of  the  association  was 
one  still  young,  without  beauty,  but  with  a  lofty,  intel- 
lectual forehead.  The  mind  had  pondered  within  this 
forehead  upon  the  unjust  distribution  of  human  lots — 
upon  the  disproportion  between  the  longings  which  she 
felt  within  herself  and  that  portion  in  life  which  was  hers, 
as  a  young  woman  of  weak  health  and  small  means.  She 
dwelt  on  these  thoughts  and  this  state  of  life  until  she  be- 
came also  insane.  Rigid,  evangelical  relations  of  hers  coun- 
seled her  "to  bear  her  cross!"  She  came  hither.  Here 
she  was  received  by  love  and  freedom — the  most  invigor- 
ating atmosphere  both  for  soul  and  body.  Her  being  ex- 
panded and  unfolded  itself  like  a  drooping  flower.  That 
life  of  social  love,  and  that  taste  for  fellow  -  citizenship 
which  lay  fettered  within  her,  liberated  itself,  and  she  soon 
became  one  of  the  most  active  members  of  the  little  com- 
munity, devoting  herself  to  the  cultivation  of  the  garden, 
and  to  the  care  of  its  fruits  and  flowers.  She  is  now  a 
universal  favorite  in  the  little  community,  and  is  there 
only  addressed  by  some  appellation  of  endearment,  ex- 
pressive of  the  general  love  for  her,  and  her  affectionate 
activity  for  all. 

I  sat  one  evening  in  her  little  room,  listening  to  the 
simple  and  affecting  history  of  her  former  inward  strug- 
gle and  her  present  happiness.  That  little  room  was  not 
larger  than  an  ordinary  prison  cell ;  it  had  bare,  white- 
washed walls,  but  a  large  window  which  afforded  light 
and  air.  We  sat  upon  a  very  comfortable  sofa,  and  the 
cornice  and  angles  of  the  room  were  covered  from  floor  to 


620  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD 

ceiling  with  rich  sheaves  of  beautiful  grasses,  grouped  with 
the  most  exquisite  taste.  The  inmate  of  the  room  did  not 
know  their  names ;  she  had  never  had  an  opportunity  of 
becoming  acquainted  with  nature  and  its  productions; 
but  every  one  of  these  grasses  had  been  gathered  by  her 
with  love,  had  been  contemplated  with  admiration,  and 
bound  together  one  with  another,  so  that  the  peculiar 
beauty  of  each  was  made  availing  to  the  whole.  That 
fantastic  moulding  of  yellow  grasses  was  richer  than  one 
of  gilding. 

My  conversation  in  this  little  room  was  interrupted  be- 
fore I  wished  by  my  being  called  away  to  see  one  of  the 
sweetest  young  girls  dance  the  Scottish  hornpipe. 

On  Sunday  Channing  gave  a  public  discourse  on  the  re- 
lationship of  religion  and  the  community,  on  the  relation- 
ship between  the  inward  and  the  outward  laws,  a  discourse 
rich  in  Christian  consciousness,  and  in  which  nothing  was 
wanting  but  that  prominence  should  have  been  given  to 
the  constant  point  of  this  consciousness,  the  need  of  mer- 
cy, and  of  the  communication  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  and  of 
prayer,  that  wonderful  speaking-tube  between  earth  and 
heaven. 

In  the  evening,  which  was  beautiful,  I  ascended  with 
Marcus  and  Eddy  a  green  hill  at  some  distance  from  the 
Phalanstery,  which  is  called  from  its  shape  the  Sugar- 
Loaf  Hill.  We  had  an  extensive  prospect  from  the  sum- 
mit, and  saw  in  the  golden  light  of  the  setting  sun  the 
whole  fertile,  cultivated  region,  full  of  small  rural  abodes 
embowered  in  their  wooded  parks,  and  among  these  the 
pale  yellow-colored  house  of  the  Phalanstery  looked  like  a 
large  mansion.  I  gazed  upon  it  with  cheerful  feelings, 
although  I  can  not  divest  my  mind  of  fears  regarding  its 
stability,  more  especially  as  some  of  its  wisest  members 
are  not  without  anxieties  regarding  its  pecuniary  diffi- 
culties. 

This  community,  and  those  which  resemble  it  in  this 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  621 

country,  aim  at  producing  the  model  community  on  earth, 
a  perfect  state  of  social  life.  They  call  this  community 
the  Harmonians,  and  place  it  above  the  old  one,  in  which 
the  members  graduate  merely  in  artificial  culture ;  their 
efforts  are  principally  directed  toward  the  spiritual,  the 
natural,  which,  in  its  full  state  of  culture,  will  lead  to  a 
perfect,  and  in  all  respects  harmoniously  developed  social 
state. 

Nevertheless,  it  seems  to  me  that  all  the  various  talents 
and  natural  gifts,  upon  the  development  of  which  the  full 
development  of  the  community  principally  depends,  can 
not  here  attain  to  the  depth  and  fullness  which  is  neces- 
sary for  this  purpose.  A  small  community  can  scarcely 
furnish  scope  sufficient  for  the  many  dissimilar  powers, 
and  these — but  I  will  not  say  more  on  this  subject.  I  feel 
that  I  am  not  fully  possessed  of  it,  and  that  the  objections 
which  I  might  make  could  be  met  by  the  answer  of  the  ex- 
tended sphere  of  the  nursery;  which  I  have  here  seen.  I 
will  rather  adhere  to  that  portion  of  the  subject  which  I  un- 
derstand with  my  whole  heart,  which  makes  the  institution 
dear  to  me,  and  which,  I  am  certain,  forms  a  transition 
point  in  its  life  and  activity  as  regards  the  life  of  humanity. 

It  is  a  work  of  Christian  human  love.  It  aims  at  pre- 
paring every  man  and  every  woman  for  a  harmonious  de- 
velopment, conformably  to  their  innermost  being,  by  means 
of  a  harmonious  social  life,  in  which  all  shall  enjoy  the 
fruits  of  the  labor  of  all,  and  all  enjoy  the  fruits  of  God's 
rich  and  beautiful  earth.  It  enforces  that  object  in  indi- 
vidual activity  at  which  it  aims  publicly  in  the  great  com- 
munity. It  is  a  forerunner  and  a  prophet.  The  prophets 
of  old  were  stoned,  and  are  dead. 

And  their  voices  sound  even  now  upon  earth.  The 
community  of  the  Phalanstery,  as  I  beheld  it  here,  with 
its  sound  kernel  of  pious  and  earnest  working  members, 
with  its  surrounding  garland  of  intellectual,  devoted  look- 
ers-on, is  a  product  of  Christ's  doctrine  of  love,  and  it  aims 


522  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

at  making  this  a  vital  principle  of  social  life.  It  is  an 
upright  and  a  noble  endeavor. 

And  the  kingdom  of  Grod  is  extended  by  such  endeavors. 
May  one  and  all  be  faithful  in  their  part.  And  should 
the  Phalanstery,  even  in  this  its  contracted  form,  become 
one  of  the  earth's  "  enfans  perdus"  yet  it  will  not  be  so 
in  the  history  of  the  new  community,  neither  in  that  of 
the  house  of  Grod. 

For  my  part,  I  feel  convinced  that  these  small  socialist 
communities  will  not  sustain  themselves  longer  than  they 
are  sustained  by  the  noble  spirits  who  infuse  into  them 
their  energetic  life  of  love.  Then  probably  their  work 
will  fall  to  pieces.  But  if  they,  during  a  short  successful 
period,  exhibit  that  which  social  humanity  may  become 
when  all  shall  be  influenced  by  a  noble  and  beneficent  spir- 
it, and  possessing  all  these  material  advantages  which  as- 
sociated life  affords,  then  they  will  not  have  flourished  — 
will  not  have  lived  in  vain.    . 

And  it  can  not  be  denied  that  the  moral  element  which 
they  adopt  as  the  principle  of  association,  and  which  con- 
stitutes their  characteristic  and  recognizable  feature,  is 
also  beginning  to  be  valid  in  the  great  commercial,  indus- 
trial, and  scientific  associations  of  North  America.  Peo- 
ple are  acknowledging  more  and  more  that  man  is  more 
than  meat,  and  "  leveling  upward"  is  the  universal  watch- 
word in  all  associated  life.  Associations  in  all  professions, 
and  for  all  purposes,  spring  as  the  natural  products  of  this 
soil,  but  only  the  more  is  it  felt  that  the  strongest  bond 
of  union  is  a  supernatural  one,  and  depends  principally 
upon  that  which  is  highest  and  best  in  man.  Associa- 
tions become  fraternities. 

The  last  -evening  of  my  stay  at  the  Phalanstery  I  con- 
ducted all  its  members  through  a  grand  Swedish  Nigare- 
polka,  which  made  a  fervor.  Seldom  indeed  had  "  the 
Grreat  Joy"  resounded  with  a  more  universal  or  hearty  re- 
joicing. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  623 

The  following  morning  Channing  was  to  leave.  After 
breakfast,  therefore,  we  walked  into  the  park  for  quiet 
conversation.  We  met  several  people  who  would  gladly 
have  exchanged  a  word  with  the  beloved  teacher,  yet  none 
interrupted  us,  none  disturbed  us.  I  saw  a  lady  sitting 
reading  under  a  shady  tree ;  she  sat  as  quietly  there  as 
in  her  own  room:  so  much  is  the  private  circle  respected 
by  the  members  of  the  Phalanstery. 

Among  the  varied  scenes  of  these  last  few  days  was 
one  of  a  somnambule,  of  that  kind  which  is  called  a  me- 
dium, i.  e.,  a  person  who,  in  the  magnetic  state,  is,  or  be- 
lieves himself  to  be,  en  rapport  with  a  deceased  friend  or 
connection,  and  delivers  communications  from  him.  This 
medium  was  a  pretty  young  girl  (not  a  member  of  the 
Phalanstery),  and  the  spirit  that  was  said  to  converse  with 
her  was  that  of  her  father. 

About  twenty  persons,  myself  being  one  of  the  number, 
sat  round  a,  table,  all  forming  a  chain  by  the  contact  of 
the  hands  ;  hymns  were  sung  to  cheerful  tunes.  "Within 
a  very  short  time  the  young  girl  became  suddenly  pale, 
her  head  sank,  and  her  features  grew  livid  and  rigid  al- 
most as  in  death.  This  lasted  for  a  few  minutes,  during 
which  the  singing  was  continued.  The  young  girl  then 
awoke  with  convulsive  movements,  and  immediately  aft- 
erward began,  with  convulsive  rapidity,  to  pass  her  fin- 
gers over  the  letters  of  a  large  alphabet  which  lay  before 
her,  and  in  which  she  pointed  out  letters  which  were 
written  down  by  other  persons,  and  thus  words  and  sen- 
tences were  put  together.  Questions  which  were  put  to 
the  somnambule  were  answered  in  the  same  manner,  and  I 
am  convinced  that  there  was  no  deception  ;  nevertheless, 
the  answers  which  she  gave  showed  evidently  that  the 
spirit  with  which  she  stood  en  rapport  was  not  very  much 
wiser  than  we  poor  inquiring  mortals.  She  had  been  ex- 
tremely attached  to  the  deceased  father,  and  it  was  not 
until  after  his  death  that  she  fell  into  this  singular  con- 


624  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

dition.  The  answers  showed  indeed  a  pure  spiritual  life, 
but  not  any  thing  supernaturally  so.  The  whole  scene 
interested  me,  but  produced  a  painful  impression  on  Chan- 
ning,  whose  pure,  spiritual  nature  is  displeased  by  these 
juggling  or  abnormal  spiritual  dealings. 

There  are  in  the  United  States  at  this  time,  especially  in 
the  North,  a  great  number  of  clairvoyants  of  all  grades ; 
and  mediums,  "  spiritual  knockings,"  and  many  other 
dark  spiritual  phenomena  belong  to  the  order  of  the  day. 
They  are  totally  rejected  by  many,  but  earnestly  accepted 
by  others.  I  myself  have  seen  sufficient  of  clairvoyant 
exhibitions  to  be  convinced  that  they  are  by  no  means  de- 
ficient of  a  light  which  exceeds  that  of  the  ordinary  nat- 
ural condition,  at  the  same  time  that  they  are  by  no  means 
infallible.  The  clairvoyant  sees  many  things  with  won- 
derful clearness,  but  is  mistaken  in  others.  The  clairvoy- 
ant is  not  a  guide  to  be  relied  upon.  Nevertheless,  the 
certain  result  of  the  phenomenon  of  clairvoyance  is  infi- 
nitely precious,  that  is  to  say,  the  certainty  it  gives  that 
the  soul  possesses  organs  and  senses  within  the  corporeal, 
and  independent  of  them ;  that  the  spiritual  body  is  su- 
perior to  the  natural ;  that  the  latter  is  merely  the  natu- 
ral medium  of  the  former. 

After  these  cheerful,  festal  days  at  the  Phalanstery,  I 
returned  to  New  York,  where  I  am  now,  once  more  in  my 
good  Q,uaker-home,  occupied  in  visiting  the  public  insti- 
tutions and  making  preparations  for  my  journey.  1  am 
accompanied  and  assisted  in  all  this  by  the  eldest  son  of 
the  family,  an  amiable  youth  of  nineteen,  beautiful  in 
body  and  soul,  one  of  those  who  make  one  think  of  the 
new  human  being  of  whom  the  song  of  Yala  speaks,  "fed 
with  morning  dew." 

During  my  rambles  hither  and  thither  in  New  York,  I 
have  often  met  with  large  parties  of  military,  and  yester- 
day a  large  body  of  cavalry  passed  along  the  streets,  both 
horses  and  men  having  a  very  martial  and  magnificent 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  625 

appearance.  I  have  never  seen  in  any  of  the  capitals  of 
Europe  so  much  military  movement  as  in  New  York. 
But  the  soldiers  here  are  voluntary  troops,  and  exercise 
themselves  in  military  maneuvers  for  their  own  pleasure. 
Many  times  during  the  day  gay  military  music  may  he 
heard  on  Broadway,  and  small  detachments  are  seen 
marching  along  in  splendid  uniforms,  and  with  fine  mil- 
itary bearing,  frequently  with  flowers  stuck  in  their  gun- 
barrels.  These  volunteer  corps  of  young  citizens  have 
been  exercising  themselves  beyond  the  city  in  firing  and 
military  exercises,  and  are  now  returning  thence  with 
bands  of  music,  which  are  always  good,  and  which  play 
lively  marches  or  "  quick-steps."  The  peace-promulgating 
people  are  warlike  by  nature,  and  its  spirit  of  conquest  is 
double-faced,  like  the  god  Janus. 

I  have  heard  the  Military  Academy  at  West  Point — 
the  only  establishment  of  this  kind  in  the  United  States 
— praised  by  Europeans,  who  are  authority  on  such  sub- 
jects, as  being  very  excellent,  and  that  the  officers  who 
have  been  brought  up  there  are  as  remarkable  for  their 
knowledge  as  for  their  bravery.  During  the  Mexican  war 
the  number  of  killed  and  wounded  of  the  officers  greatly 
exceeded,  in  proportion,  that  of  the  common  soldiers,  and 
proved  the  courage  with  which  they  had  led  on  their 
troops. 

I  have  to-day  engaged  a  cabin  on  board  the  large 
American  steamer  The  Atlantic,  which  leaves  New  York 
for  Liverpool  on  the  13th  instant.  The  vessel  and  the 
captain,  Mr.  West,  are  both  of  the  first  class  ;  with  him 
I  shall  be  quite  safe. 

I  return  this  afternoon  to  my  friends  at  Rose  Cottage, 
and  in  the  morning  I  shall  be  joined  there  by  Mr.  Down- 
ing, who  is  on  his  way  from  Washington,  and  who  will 
take  me  with  him  to  his  beautiful  home  on  the  Hudson. 
There  will  be  my  last  visit  in  America,  where  also  was 
my  first.     Some  other  visits  I  shall  be  unable  to  pay,  how 

Vol.  II.— D  d 


626  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

ever  much  I  desire  it.  But  this  is  required  from  me,  both 
from  duty  and  from — love. 

I  spent  last  evening — my  last  evening  at  New  York — 
with  my  amiable,  kind  hostess,  Mrs.  G\.  at  the  house  of  her 
father,  the  celebrated  old  Isaac  Hopper.  This  magnificent 
old  man,  now  eighty-five,  is  still  as  strong  and  ardent  al- 
most as  a  youth.  In  his  strongly-marked,  handsome  coun- 
tenance may  be  seen  the  ardor  of  the  warlike  spirit,  com- 
bined with  the  steadfastness  and  wisdom  of  the  peace- 
principle,  relieved  by  a  great  deal  of  humor  and  shrewd- 
ness. His  figure  in  his  Quaker  costume  is  not  without  a 
degree  of  chivalric  stateliness.  It  is  evident  that  Father 
Hopper,  as  he  is  commonly  called,  belongs  to  the  Church 
militant,  and  all  his  life  has  borne  testimony  to  this.  He 
has,  during  his  active  life  in  the  service  of  the  oppressed, 
been  the  means  of  delivering  more  than  a  thousand  fugi- 
tive slaves  out  of  the  hands  of  their  pursuers,  and  in  so 
doing  has  periled  his  own  life,  has  been  maltreated,  has 
been  hurled  into  the  street,  thrown  out  of  windows — once 
out  of  the  third  story  of  a  house — and  always  returned 
resolute,  firm,  cheerful,  full  of  courage  and  resources  to  ac- 
complish that  which  he  had  begun,  with  a  good-humored 
obstinacy  which  finally  conquered  the  malevolence  of  his 
adversaries.  At  the  request  of  his  daughter  and  myself, 
he  related  some  of  the  occurrences  of  his  life  during  his 
efforts  to  save  fugitive  slaves.  I  have  seldom  heard  nar- 
ratives more  instructive,  and  seldom  have  I  spent  so  rich 
and  racy  an  evening. 

Father  Hopper  has  twelve  children,  and  his  handsome 
second  wife  sat  at  the  table  in  her  fine,  white  Quaker  cos- 
tume. A  young  unmarried  daughter  still  beautified  her 
old  father's  home. 

Long  life  to  Father  Hopper  and  his  family ! 

September  5th — 10th.  Days  on  the  Hudson !  The  last 
days  in  my  first  beautiful  home  on  its  banks;  beautiful 
days,  but  still  sad.     It  is  borne  in  upon  my  mind  contin- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  627 

uall  v  with  a  painful  feeling,  as  of  rending  asunder,  which 
I  can  not  describe,  that  the  time  draws  near  for  separa- 
tion;  that  I  actually  and  forever  am  leaving  this  grand, 
glorious  country,  in  which  I  have  lived  so  richly,  which 
received  me  with  such  unexampled  hospitality — these  no- 
ble, amiable  people,  who  are  my  friends,  to  whom  I  am  so 
deeply  attached,  with  whom  I  would  fain  always  live  and 
associate.  Nowhere  have  I  found  such  friends.  Do  not 
imagine,  my  own  Agatha,  that  1  am  less  willing  to  return 
home;  believe  me,  I  could  not  love  and  work  any  where 
but  in  Sweden ;  but  yet — it  is  bitter  for  me  to  tear  myself 
away,  and  I  sometimes  believe  that  I  can  not — that  it  is 
not  really  possible !     It  seems  to  me  so  unreasonable! 

What  a  pleasure  it  was  to  me  to  see  once  more  Mr. 
Downing,  Andrew  Downing,  my  first  friend  on  the  soil  of 
America,  my  young  American  brother,  as  I  love  to  call  him  ! 

The  good  Marcus  had  driven  me  down  to  the  steam- 
er, and  sat  with  me  in  the  saloon,  waiting  till  Downing, 
according  to  appointment,  should  come.  He  came  from 
Washington,  and  Marcus  left  me  in  his  charge.  It  was 
now  more  than  a  year  and  a  half  since  I  had  last  seen  him. 
He  seemed  to  me  handsomer — more  manly ;  it  seemed  to 
me  as  if  he  had  grown,  had  developed  himself;  and  so  it 
was.  He  had  spiritually  developed  himself  and  his  world. 
His  beautiful  eyes  beamed  with  a  self-conscious  power. 

We  advanced  up  the  Hudson  as  we  had  done  nearly  two 
years  before ;  he  sat  beside  me,  silent  as  usual,  after  we 
had  exchanged  the  first  natural  communications  between 
friends  ;  neither  did  I  feel  it  necessary  to  talk,  for  we  un- 
derstood one  another.  It  was  the  most  beautiful  afternoon 
and  evening.  The  wind  was  fresh  and  full  of  animation, 
although  warm  ;  the  waves  were  agitated  more  than  usu- 
al, and  danced  and  sang  around  us ;  nature  was  full  of 
cheerful  and  delicious  life.  No  night- frosts  as  yet  had 
breathed  upon  the  verdant  heights ;  the  enchanting  veil 
of  the  autumnal  summer  began  to  be  unfolded  over  them. 


628  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

The  moon  arose  and  mingled  her  waves  of  light  with  those 
of  the  wind  and  water.  I  sat  silent,  listening,  and  melan- 
choly.    I  knew  that  the  hour  of  parting  drew  nigh. 

Caroline  Downing  met  us,  as  on  the  former  occasion.  I 
found  her  also  looking  younger  and  more  lovely.  But  I 
felt  that  I  myself  had  become  older,  both  body  and  soul. 
But  then  I  had  in  these  two  years  passed  through  more 
than  in  ten  ordinary  years,  and  much  of  this,  which  apper- 
tains to  my  innermost  being,  can  only  be  imparted  to  you 
by  word  of  mouth. 

I  rejoice  to  see  the  development  of  life  and  activity 
which  has  taken  place  in  Downing.  His  outward  sphere 
of  activity  is  now  very  wide  and  effective.  President  Fill- 
more has  it  in  contemplation  to  lay  out  extensive  grounds 
around  the  Capitol  at  Washington,  and  there  are  here  two 
young  architects  from  England  who,  under  Downing's  di- 
rection, are  preparing  plans  for  houses  which  he  is  com- 
missioned to  erect  for  private  persons,  who  in  their  villas 
and  cottages  desire  to  combine  the  beautiful  with  the  use- 
ful. Downing's  engagements  and  correspondence  is  at 
this  time  incredibly  great,  and  extends  over  the  whole 
Union;  but  then  he  does  all  so  easily,  so  con  amore,  as 
Jenny  Lind  seems  to  sing.  That,  however,  which  pleases 
me  in  particular  is  the  direction  whioh  his  literary  activity 
seems  to  take.  I  have  sometimes,  half  in  earnest  and  half 
in  jest,  reproached  Downing  with  being  more  exclusive  and 
aristocratic  in  his  beautifying  activity  than  became  an 
honest,  downright  republican,  and  we  have  had,  in  conse- 
quence, various  friendly  little  quarrels.  It  is  very  easy  to 
see,  from  Downing's  naturally  refined  manner,  that  it  must 
be  difficult  for  him  to  reconcile  himself  to  a  certain  rude- 
ness and  unmannerliness  which  must  exist  among  a  peo- 
ple where  all  possess  equal  rights,  and  regard  themselves 
as  equally  good,  even  before  all  have  attained  to  that  out- 
ward and  inward  degree  of  cultivation  which  can  make 
equality  natural,  and  the  life  of  equality  agreeable.     He 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  (J29 

seemed  to  me  also  as  if,  in  his  feelings  toward  this  class 
of  people,  he  stood  at  too  great  a  distance  and  was  too  in- 
d  liferent.  But  so  he  ought  not  to  be,  it  seemed  to  me,  as 
a  Christian  republican.  It  is,  therefore,  with  heartfelt  joy 
that  I  have  now  read  a  leading  article  from  his  pen  on  the 
New  York  Park,  in  the  last  number  of  his  monthly  jour- 
nal, "the  Horticulturist,"  in  whioh  he  takes  a  far  higher 
stand  than  that  which  he  was  formerly  accustomed  to  do. 

You,  my  Agatha,  must  also  write  me  a  few  words  of  this, 
because  they  deserve  to  be  read,  and  they  will  be  the  last 
which  I  shall  quote  from  the  New  World. 

I  will  let  Downing  speak. 

"We  have  said  nothing  of  the  social  influence  of  such 
a  great  park*  in  New  York.  But  this  is  really  the  most 
interesting  phase  of  the  whole  matter.  It  is  a  fact  not  a 
little  remarkable,  that,  ultra*democratic  as  are  the  politic- 
al tendencies  of  America,  its  most  intelligent  social  tend- 
encies are  almost  wholly  in  a  contrary  direction.  And 
among  the  topics  discussed  by  the  advocates  and  opponents 
of  the  new  park,  none  seem  so  poorly  understood  as  the 
social  aspect  of  the  thing.  It  is,  indeed,  both  curious  and 
amusing  to  see  the  stand  taken  on  the  one  hand  by  the 
million,  that  the  park  is  made  for  the  "upper  ten,"  who 
ride  in  fine  carriages,  and  on  the  other  hand,  by  the  wealthy 
and  refined,  that  a  park  in  this  country  will  be  "usurped 
by  rowdies  and  low  people."  Shame  upon  our  republican 
compatriots,  who  so  little  understand  the  elevating  influ- 
ences of  the  beautiful  in  nature  and  art,  when  enjoyed  in 
common  by  thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  all 
classes  without  distinction!  They  can  never  have  seen 
how,  all  over  France  and  Germany,  the  whole  population 
of  the  cities  pass  their  afternoons  and  evenings  together  in 
the  beautiful  public  parks  and  gardens — how  they  enjoy 
together  the  same  music,  breathe  the  same  atmosphere  of 

*  Downing  urges  in  his  article  that  the  park  must  be  laid  out  on  a 
much  larger  scale  than  bad  been  contemplated. 


':■ 


630  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

art,  enjoy  the  same  scenery,  and  grow  into  social  freedom 
by  the  very  influences  of  easy  intercourse,  space,  and  beau- 
ty that  surround  them.  In  Germany,  especially,  they  have 
never  seen  how  the  highest  and  the  lowest  partake  alike 
of  the  common  enjoyment — the  prince  seated  beneath  the 
trees  on  a  rush-bottomed  chair,  before  a  little  wooden  ta- 
ble, sipping  his  coffee  or  his  ice,  with  the  same  freedom 
from  state  and  pretension  as  the  simplest  subject.  Draw- 
ing-room conventionalities  are  too  narrow  for  a  mile  or  two 
of  spacious  garden  landscape,  and  one  can  be  happy  with 
ten  thousands  in  the  social  freedom  of  a  community  of 
genial  influences,  without  the  unutterable  pang  of  not  hav- 
ing been  introduced  to  the  company  present. 

"  These  social  doubters,  who  thus  intrench  themselves 
in  the  sole  citadel  of  exclusiveness  in  Republican  Ameri- 
ca, .mistake  our  people  and  their  destiny.  If  we  would 
but  have  listened  to  them,  our  magnificent  river  and  lake 
steamers,  those  real  palaces  of  the  million,  would  ha^ve  no 
velvet  couches,  no  splendid  mirrors,  no  luxurious  carpets. 
Such  costly  and  rare  appliances  of  civilization,  they  would 
have  told  us,  could  only  be  rightly  used  by  the  privileged 
families  of  wealth,  and  would  be  trampled  upon  and  ut- 
terly ruined  by  the  democracy  of  the  country,  who  travel 
one  hundred  miles  for  half  a  dollar.  And  yet  these,  our 
floating  palaces  and  our  monster  hotels,  with  their  purple 
and  fine  linen,  are  they  not  respected  by  the  majority  who 
use  them,  as  truly  as  other  palaces  by  their  rightful  sover- 
eigns ?  Alas !  for  the  faithlessness  of  the  few  who  pos- 
sess, regarding  the  capacity  for  culture  of  the  many  who 
are  wanting.  Even  upon  the  lower  platform  of  liberty 
and  education  that  the  masses  stand  in  Europe,  we  see 
the  elevating  influences  of  a  wide  popular  enjoyment  of 
galleries  of  art,  public  libraries,  parks  and  gardens,  which 
have  raised  the  people  in  social  civilization  and  social  cul- 
ture to  a  far  higher  level  than  we  have  yet  attained  in 
Republican  America.     And  yet  this  broad  ground  of  pop- 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  631 

ular  refinement  must  be  taken  in  Republican  America, 
for  it  belongs  of  right  more  truly  here  than  elsewhere. 
It  is  republican  in  its  very  idea  and  tendency.  It  takes 
up  popular  education  where  the  common  school  and  bal- 
lot-box leave  it,  and  raises  up  the  working-man  to  the 
same  level  of  enjoyment  with  the  man  of  leisure  and  ac- 
complishment. The  higher  social  and  artistic  elements 
of  every  man's  nature  lie  dormant  within  him,  and  every 
laborer  is  a  possible  gentleman,  not  by  the  possession  of 
money  acd  fine  clothes,  but  through  the  refining  influ- 
ence of  intellectual  and  moral  culture.  Open  wide,  there- 
fore, the  doors  of  your  libraries  and  picture  galleries,  all 
ye  true  republicans !  Build  halls,  where  knowledge  shall 
be  freely  diffused  among  men,  and  not  shut  up  within  the 
narrow  walls  of  narrow  institutions.  Place  spacious  parks 
in  your  cities,  and  unloose  their  gates  as  wide  as  the  gates 
of  the  morning  to  the  whole  people.  As  there  are  no  dark 
places  at  noonday,  so  education  and  culture,  the  true 
sunshine  of  the  soul,  will  banish  the  plague-spots  of  de- 
mocracy ;  and  the  dread  of  the  ignorant  exclusive,  who 
has  no  faith  in  the  refinement  of  a  republic,  will  stand 
abashed  in  the  next  century  before  a  whole  people,  whose 
system  of  voluntary  education  embraces,  combined  with 
perfect  individual  freedom,  not  only  common  schools  of 
rudimentary  knowledge,  but  common  enjoyments  for  all 
classes  in  the  higher  realms  of  art,  letters,  science,  social 
recreations,  and  enjoyments.  Were  our  legislators  but 
wise  enough  to  understand  to-day  the  destinies  of  the  New 
"World,  the  gentility  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  made  universal, 
would  not  be  half  so  much  a  miracle  fifty  years  hence  in 
America,  as  the  idea  of  a  whole  nation  of  laboring  men 
reading  and  writing  was  in  his  day  in  England." 

Thus  my  friend  Downing,  who  has  in  this  declared  from 
his  sphere  the  mission  of  the  New  World,  and  who  has 
taken  a  position  which  is  worthy  a  son  of  the  new  crea- 
tion, that  of  Christian  artist. 


632  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

He  has  gone  forth  among  the  people  to  elevate  them  to 
his  point  of  view;  he  has  united  himself  with  that  great, 
true  republican  party  in  the  country,  all  of  whose  endeav- 
ors tend  to  " leveling  upward"  and  whose  watch- word  is 
"all  things  for  all." 

It  is  an  especial  source  of  joy  to  me  to  see  how  near 
Downing  now  approaches  to  that  point  of  view  taken  by 
my  friends  the  S.'s.  Probably  they  will  hereafter  come  into 
closer  personal  contact.  Downing  may  visit  the  Phalan- 
stery, and  may  perhaps  give  it  the  benefit  of  his  knowledge 
and  artistic  genius  in  those  building  schemes  which  are 
under  contemplation.  Thus  are  fraternal  chains  formed, 
the  first  link  of  which  rests  in  his  hand  who  first  declared 
on  earth  that  all  men  are  brethren.  His  power  will  per- 
meate it  to  the  very  extremest  link.     Praise  be  unto  him  ! 

Evening.  I  can  not  write  much  more  from  this  place ; 
time  fails  me,  my  heart  fails  me.  The  writing  of  many 
letters  and  the  duties  of  the  present  moment  occupy  the 
hours,  and  the  thought  of  leaving  this  country,  these  friends, 
this  people,  is  like  a  thorn  in  my  heart.  The  weather  also 
depresses  me;  the  heat  oppressive ;  not  a  breath  of  wind  is 
stirring;  the  atmosphere  is  hot  as  if  boiled.  It  is  only 
beautiful  in  the  evening,  when  the  moon  has  risen,  and 
pours  her  gushes  of  silver  light  among  the  shadows  of  the 
river  and  the  shore. 

Last  evening  I  took  a  stroll  through  the  park  alone,  and 
with  an  unspeakable  melancholy  in  my  soul. 

"It  is  all  past  and  gone,  this  beautiful  time,"  thought 
I;  "these  bonds  of  friendship,  these  beautiful  sights  of  a 
New  World;  these  beautiful,  animating  circumstances;  all 
past !  past  and  gone !"     And  I  wept  bitterly. 

But  when  I  looked,  the  full  moon  was  looking  down  upon 
me,  large  and  splendid,  and  shone  into  my  soul  as  she 
seemed  to  say, 

"No,  it  is  not  all  past  and  gone!  Strengthen  thy  heart 
with  the  light  which  increases  forever !     That  which  the 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  .  633 

t 

human  being  has  thus  found,  thus  acquired,  is  his  forever, 
and  can  not  die.  It  is  an  imperishable  seed,  which  will 
renovate  itself  in  new  and  abundant  harvests  in  the  king- 
dom of  light !  These  friends,  these  memories,  will  not  cease 
to  live  in  thee.  To  each  wane  succeeds  a  new  increase 
and  a  new  fullness." 

This  was  what  the  moon,  my  friend,  seemed  to  say  to 
me,  and,  comforted,  I  returned  to  the  house,  and  was  silent 
and  thankful. 

In  the  morning  I  go  to  New  York,  whither  my  friends 
accompany  me. 

My  silent  friend  has  let  fall  words  full  of  important 
meaning  to  me  during  these  last  few  days.  He  says  but 
little,  as  formerly,  but  in  that  little — so  much.  He  wishes 
me  clearly  to  understand  both  good  and  evil  in  this  coun- 
try, and  to  express  it  without  reserve,  but  he  leaves  it  to 
my  own  mind  to  find  out  the  way  and  the  truth. 

"That  will  all  come  clear  to  you,"  he  says  sometimes, 
"  when  you  get  home  and  are  quiet." 

His  manner  and  his  perfect  confidence  enchant  me. 

The  interest  he  takes  in  the  intellectual  development 
of  woman  in  America  is  one  circumstance  which  particu- 
larly attaches  me  to  him.  This  acute-minded  observer 
sees  clearly  that  which  is  still  wanting  in  general.  He 
has  mentioned  with  great  pleasure  to  me  a  work  just  pub- 
lished, entitled  "RuralHours,"  by  Miss  Cooper,  the  daugh- 
ter of  the  novelist ;  a  diary,  in  which  she  simply  and  faith- 
fully chronicled,  during  a  quiet  residence  in  the  country, 
all  that  occurred  in  the  life  of  nature  around  her,  so  that 
the  whole  progress  of  the  year  is  displayed — the  grasses, 
the  birds,  the  flowers  come  out  and  disappear,  and  beau- 
tiful drawings  of  the  latter  adorn  the  work. 

Downing  has  spoken  in  high  commendation  of  this 
work  in  his  own  journal,  "  The  Horticulturist,"  both  on 
account  of  its  scientific  worth,  and  for  the  example  which 
it  gives  to  female  mind,  directing  its  attention  to  the  daily 

Dd2 


634  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD 

marvels  of  nature,  and  to  that  which  is  great  even  in  the 
quiet  e very-day  life  of  the  country.  * 

"Flowers,  insects,  and  the  biographies  of  birds  ought 
especially  to  be  drawn  and  studied  by  female  students  of 
Natural  History." 

Oh !  that  it  is  necessary  to  part  from  this  friend ;  one 
of  the  best,  and  the  most  suitable  for  my  character  and 
turn  of  mind  which  can  be  imagined,  or,  rather,  which 
the  goodness  of  God  can  give  me. 

Rose  Cottage,  September  12th. 

Yet  a  few  more  words,  but  merely  a  few,  for  I  am 
overwhelmed  by  letters  and  objects  which  demand  my 
attentions,  and  find  that  I  am  suffering  from  headache 
caused  by  over-excitement  of  mind  and  body. 

Before  I  left  the  Downings  we  spent  one  day  together 
at  West  Point.  The  view  was  glorious,  but  the  day  op- 
pressively hot,  and  without  any  air.  The  vessels  glided 
along  the  mirror-like  Hudson,  I  know  not  by  what  pow- 
er, for  wind  there  was  none. 

At  the  table  d'hote^  at  dinner,  there  sat  before  us  two 
meagre,  sallow-complexioned,  sickly-looking  little  girls, 
quite  by  themselves,  who  drank  wine  and  ate  all  sorts  of 
delicacies  like  grown-up  people.  This  did  not  escape 
Downing's  grave  and  disapproving  glance.  He  said  to 
me, 

"This  is  one  of  the  circumstances  upon  which  I  wish 
you  to  turn  the  general  attention !  There  is  so  much 
done  for  children  in  this  country — people  look  upon  them 
as  almost  sacred  beings,  and  yet  children  are  spoiled  by 
regular  neglect!" 

"You  must  take  this  as  a  present  from  me  to  your  sis- 
ter Agatha,"  said  Downing,  giving  me  a  large,  beautiful 
copper-plate  engraving  of  the  view  from  West  Point. 

His   last   gift   to    me   was   Bartlett's   valuable   work, 
"American  Scenery,"  and  Miss  Cooper's  "Rural  Hours 
that  was  at  New  York.     At  the  Astor  House  we  parted 


.•>-> 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  635 

# 

where  we  had  first  met ;  I  felt  that  we  parted  forever  on 
earth. 

Marcus  S.,  pale  with  the  heat,  always  kind  and  atten- 
tive, came  with  his  carriage  to  take  me  to  his  home. 

It  is  now  late  in  the  evening,  my  last  evening  in  the 
New  "World.  The  heat  is  horrible ;  the  nights  bring  with 
them  no  refreshment.  People  look  as  if  their  faces  were 
floured.     All  things  seem  to  suffer  and  to  pant. 

I  can  not  conceive  how  it  is  possible  for  me  to  be  ready 
by  morning.     Grood-night ! 

I  shall  soon  behold  Sweden  once  more !  Ah,  if  then, 
when  I  come  from  Denmark,  I  could  only  see  your  sweet 
face  on  the  shore — your  blue  eyes ! 

My  dear  heart,  I  have  longed  greatly  to  have  received 
yet  one  letter  more  from  you  before  I  left  America,  which 
would  tell  me  that  you  had  become  warm  again — the  two 
last  were  so  very  cold  !  But  no  warm  summer  letter  has 
come,  and  I  must  leave  in  faith  and  in  hope.  And  in  love 
I  embrace  heartily  mamma  and  you ! 

On  the  Sea,  September,  1851. 

p.S. — It  is  over.  I  have  left  them  forever,  that  great 
country,  those  dear,  precious  friends  I  It  was  inevitable, 
and  it  is  done ;  but  I  feel  still  stupefied,  as  it  were,  by  it. 
Thank  Grod,  however,  the  severest  moment  is  past. 

And  the  morning  on  which  I  must  go — it  was  a  strange 
morning  !  I  was  almost  bewildered  by  the  multitude  of 
small  duties  which  I  yet  had  to  perform,  and  by  a  linger- 
ing headache  ;  but  all  at  once  it  went,  and  every  thing 
brightened  up.  The  good  Marcus  sat  in  my  room,  and 
sealed  my  letters  as  I  wrote  them,  and  received  my  com- 
missions, saying  calmly  between  whiles,  "  plenty  of  time" 
— "  we  are  in  good  time."  And  it  really  seemed  to  me 
almost  miraculous  how  the  hours  and  the  time  spun  them- 
selves out;  every  thing  disentangled  itself;  every  thing 
became  light  and  easy,  so  wonderfully  calm  and  even 
pleasant — it  was  the  influence  of  the  gentle  spirit  that 
was  near  me. 


636  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

In  good  time  I  was  ready — every  thing  was  ready. 
And  I  embraced  my  beloved  Rebecca,  kissed  Jenny  and 
the  baby,  and  set  off  accompanied  by  Marcus  and  Eddy. 

On  board  the  "  Atlantic"  I  found  myself  all  at  once  in 
a  regular  whirlpool  of  old  and  new  acquaintance  ;  gentle- 
men who  shook  hands,  and  presented  me  with  pamphlets 
which  they  had  written  ;  ladies  who  presented  me  with 
lovely  gifts  ;  acquaintance  who  introduced  acquaintance  ; 
dear  friends  from  the  North,  from  the  South,  who  astonish- 
ed me  here  to  say  farewell,  and  whichever  way  I  turned 
my  head  I  was  kissed  by  somebody.  Ah !  I  was  almost 
glad  when  the  bell  summoned  my  friends  on  shore,  and  I 
could  hide  myself  in  my  berth. 

The  last  faces  I  saw  were  those  of  the  angelic  Eddy 
and  the  good,  brotherly  Marcus. 

After  that  I  sat  silent  and  immovable  for  hours.  But 
Marcus  had  placed  in  my  room  a  bouquet  of  evergreen 
plants,  and  the  yellow  and  red  everlastings  from  the  gar- 
den at  Rose  Cottage,  and  hung  to  it  a  card  on  which  were 
written  a  few  words  in  pencil ;  and  upon  this  bouquet  I 
sat  gazing  immovably,  until  its  rich  green  leaves  were 
woven  around  my  heart,  and  all  my  agitated  feelings  had 
subsided  into  calm. 

It  was  at  noon  when  we  left  the  land.  Toward  even- 
ing I  went  on  deck,  to  cast  one  more  glance  upon  that 
great  New  "World.  There  it  lay  on  the  western  horizon, 
dark  green  upon  the  blue  waters,  in  a  grand  half  circle, 
like  an  open  embrace,  a  calm  and  inviting  harbor.  Clouds 
of  tender  peach-colors,  and  from  the  darkest  violet  to  the 
clearest  gold,  and  the  softest  crimson,  lay  in  picturesque 
masses  above  it — rain-showers  and  sunbeams  were  flung 
athwart  it.  The  sun  freed  himself  from  the  cloud,  and 
shone  all  the  brighter  the  lower  he  sank  toward  the  hori- 
zon where  the  great  land  lay.  And  that  was  the  last 
view  I  had  of  it ;  and  thus  shall  I  always  behold  it  in  the 
depth  of  my  soul. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  637 

I  now  see  it  no  longer  with  my  eye — see  only  heaven 
and  the  ocean.  I  am  now  again  passing  through  a  pause 
between  two  periods  of  life,  between  two  worlds.  But  my 
heart  is  full.  And  when  people  ask  me  what  the  people 
of  the  New  World  possess  preferably  to  the  Old,  I  reply, 
with  the  impression  of  that  which  I  have  seen  and  passed 
through  in  America  fresh  in  my  soul,  a  warmer  heart's 
pulse — a  more  energetic,  youthfully  strong  life. 

Among  the  letters  which  I  received  shortly  before 
coming  on  board  is  one  which  I  shall  always  cherish.  It 
is  not  signed  by  any  name,  but  if  its  writer  only  knew 
(the  style  is  that  of  a  man)  how  much  joy  it  gave  me  !  I 
have  sometimes  complained  bitterly  of  the  want  of  a  nice 
sense  of  delicacy  ;  but  I  have  not  mentioned  the  many 
proofs  I  have  received  of  the  most  charming  delicate  kind- 
ness, which  approached  merely  to  give  me  pleasure,  and 
then  withdrew  to  avoid  thanks.  This  letter  belongs  to 
that  class. 

The  weather  is  now  stormy  and  the  sea  runs  high.  I 
keep  quiet  in  my  cabin.  I  look  at  the  little  bouquet  of 
green  leaves  and  splendid  everlastings.  They  speak  to  me 
of  America  and  the  memories  I  carry  thence.  I  shall  not 
behold  any  dear  object  until  I  once  more  see  the  Swedish 
coast — and  you. 


She  to  whom  these  words  were  addressed  I  was  never 
more  to  behold.  On  the  threshold  of  my  home  I  found 
her  grave. 

Had  she  lived,  these  letters  certainly  would  have  re- 
mained unpublished.  Their  contents  would  have  under- 
gone a  change  before  they  had  been  presented  to  the  pub- 
lic, probably  for  the  better ;  for  then  I  should  have  had  a 
friend  at  my  side  in  whose  pure  soul  I  should  have  seen 
my  faults  as  in  a  mirror.  As  it  is,  I  have  been  alone, 
although  I  have  sometimes  believed  that  an  angel  was 
near  me. 


63S  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

The  letter  to  the  distinguished  Danish  theologian,  Pro- 
fessor H.  Martinsen,  which  now  follows,  was  thought  over 
in  America,  hut  was  written  in  Europe.  I  required  qui- 
etness and  the  power  of  making  a  general  review  before 
writing  it.  I  could  not,  while  in  the  country,  perfectly 
see  the  wood  for  trees,  and  from  the  great  number  of 
churches  could  not  see  the  church. 

Now,  when  the  forests  of  the  New  "World  murmur  in 
the  distance,  and  the  great  picture  of  the  New  World's 
cultivation  is  seen  in  perspective  beyond  the  agitated  sea, 
am  I  able  for  the  first  time  to  trace  the  main  features 
with  greater  clearness  and  precision.  Some  of  these  I 
have  already  presented.  One  of  the  most  essential  I  have 
here  endeavored  to  present  to  the  noble  and  profound 
thinker  whom  I  am  still  so  happy  to  call  my  teacher  and 
my  friend. 


LETTER    XXXVIII. 

TO   THE    PROFESSOR   OF   THEOLOGY,    DR.  H.  MARTINSEN. 

Stockholm,  May,  1853. 
Of  the  happy  time  daring  which  I  was  able  every  week 
to  enjoy  your  society  and  conversation,  I  retain  in  my 
soul  two  especial  moments  as  focuses  of  that  light  which, 
through  the  mercy  of  Grod,  flowed  from  your  soul  into 
mine.  The  one  was  that  evening  when,  emboldened  by 
the  struggle  of  my  spirit  and  by  your  goodness,  I  drew 
comparisons  between  the  teachings  of  heathenism  and 
Christianity,  inquiring  after  the  new  life  until  I  made 
you  angry,  but  by  so  doing  drew  from  your  lips  a  word 
before  which  my  spirit  became  silent,  because  it  perceived 
therein  the  true  answer  to  my  inquiry,  and  the  arising  of 
the  new  life.  The  second  moment  was  the  completion  of 
the  first.  Many  questions  had  become  entangled  into  one 
single  knot.     You  disentangled  them  by  a  single  blow  of 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  639 

that  spiritual  sword,  which  is  at  the  same  time  the  sword 
of  the  Word  and  of  discriminating  reason,  which  the  Eter- 
nal Word  has  placed  in  your  hand,  accompanied  by  a  pow- 
er but  rarely  given  to  mortals.  The  effect  of  these  two 
words,  which  still  resound  in  my  inner  being,  was,  that 
they  reached  the  very  core  of  the  subject,  and  called  forth 
within  me  that  which  was  essential,  that  which  was  vital. 

Would  that  I  might  do  the  same  now,  in  giving  you 
an  account  of  that  new  life  which,  during  the  two  years 
which  have  elapsed  since  we  parted,  I  have  contemplated 
in  that  great  Western  land,  whither  I  went,  as  I  had  gone 
before  to  you,  as  an  inquirer — a  seeker. 

This  is  my  wish.  And  I  can  promise  you  one  thing,  I 
will  not  detain  you  by  many  words. 

"  For  what  purpose  are  you  going  to  America — what  do 
you  desire  to  see  there  ?"  was  the  question  which  you  and 
many  other  of  my  friends  in  Denmark  put  to  me  before  I 
embarked.     I  desired  to  see — the  approaching  One. 

For  One  there  is  who  has  silently  advanced  onward 
through  time,  from  the  beginning.  Bloody  ages,  brilliantly 
splendid  epochs,  are  merely  dissimilar  chambers  through 
which  he  advances,  silently,  calmly,  becoming  more  and 
more  distinct,  through  the  twilight  vail,  until  he  reaches 
that  period  on  the  threshold  of  which  he  now  stands,  con- 
templated by  many  with  rapture,  by  many,  too,  with  fear. 
And  if  it  is  asked  whose  is  the  form  before  which  thrones 
totter,  crowns  fall  off,  and  earthly  purple  grows  pale,  the 
reply  is,  Man — Man  in  his  original  truth,  formed  in  the 
image  of  God. 

In  all  realms  of  Christendom,  people  are  becoming  aware 
of  his  presence — are  speaking  of  him,  combating  for  him, 
combating  against  him,  and — preparing  for  him  a  way. 
For  his  day  is  at  hand,  and  he  will  come  with  it.* 

*  As  a  beautiful  proof  of  this  may  be  instanced,  it  seems  to  me,  that 
ready,  cordial  homage  which  free  nations  at  the  present  time  pay  to  noble 
and  liberal-minded  rulers,  such  as  Leopold,  Victoria,  Oscar.     What  tri- 


640  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

I  wished  to  see  humanity  as  she  presented  herself  in  the 
New  World,  now  that  she  had  cast  offall  dominion  of  courts, 
forms,  and  uniforms,  which  had  become  oppressive  burdens 
in  the  Old  World — now  that  she  had  there,  on  the  new 
soil,  erected  for  herself  a  kingdom  and  an  asylum  for  all 
nations,  according  to  no  other  law  than  that  promulgated 
in  the  Christian  revelation  and  within  her  own  breast. 
That  was  the  form  of  humanity  which  I  desired  to  see  and 
to  comprehend,  and  with  her  the  new  community  and  life. 

Contemplate  with  me,  then,  for  a  moment,  this  human- 
ity as  she  emerges  from  the  bosom  of  the  Mayflower,  and 
plants  on  the  new  soil  the  earliest  legislative  colony ;  be- 
hold her  in  the  little  company  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers. 

They  have  come  hither  from  the  Old  World,  because, 
in  the  midst  of  persecution  for  their  faith  and  struggle  for 
daily  bread,  they  felt  themselves  called  upon  to  extend 
the  kingdom  of  Christ  in  the  New  World — yes,  even  though 
they  should  be,  as  it  were,  mere  stepping-stones  for  others. 
They  call  themselves  Independents,  Non-conformists,  and 
Puritans,  because  they  have  separated  themselves  from  the 
outward  Church  and  all  worldly  power,  and  demand  their 
right  to  govern  themselves  conformably  only  to  the  Word 
of  Grod  and  the  light  of  their  own  conscience.  The  Bible 
and  implements  of  labor  were  the  principal  effects  which 
they  conveyed  with  them  to  the  New  World. 

They  wished  to  establish  on  that  new,  virgin  soil,  a 
Church  and  a  social  state  of  the  purest  character,  of  the 
inner  man  enlightened  by  the  Word  of  God. 

Every  individual  of  that  little  company  is  made  freely 
God,  and  is  a  free  fellow-citizen;  and  not  fellow-citizen 
merely — ruler,  priest,  magistrate,  public  official  of  every 
kind,  because  he  may  and  must  also  be  all  these,  if  he  is 

umphal  procession  of  antiquity  can  indeed  be  compared  to  those  noble 
human  thanksgiving  festivals  which  were  this  year  celebrated,  in  Sweden 
and  Norway,  for  the  restored  health  of  King  Oscar — homage  as  much  due 
to  the  man  as  to  the  monarch  ! 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  641 

nominated  to  them  by  the  community.  Man  bears  with- 
in himself  the  ability  for  all.  Each  individual  feels  him- 
self a  man,  and  at  the  same  time  intimately  bound  up  in 
consolidated  union  with  the  rest.  The  community  gov- 
erns itself  by  the  appointment  of  its  own  governors.  These 
are  elected  by  vote.  The  majority  of  votes  decides  the 
election,  all  agreeing  to  respect  rules  and  rulers  which  the 
majority  have  agreed  to.  The  document  of  this  agree- 
ment was  signed  by  the  emigrants  before  they  left  the 
Mayflower — before  they  had  landed  on  the  new  soil.  When 
the  little  community  trod  the  shores  of  the  New  World,  it 
had  already  perfected  its  essential,  its  formative  principle. 
Within  themselves  were  governors,  priests,  and  magis- 
trates, such  as  every  human  community  would  require, 
but  they  must  all  be  chosen  by  the  popular  voice.  Nei- 
ther rank  nor  wealth  availed  any  thing ;  nothing  in  that 
new  community  was  of  higher  avail  than  those  qualifica- 
tions which  made  the  fisherman  Peter,  and  Paul  the  tent- 
maker,  apostles  in  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  .The  human 
being  made  free  through  Christ  holds  the  highest  rank  on 
earth ;  there  can  be  none  higher.  Such  rank  and  dignity 
are  absolute ;  and  the  labor  of  this  elevated  and  ennobled 
humanity  becomes  thereby  of  the  highest  value.  Sanctity 
of  life  and  the  honor  of  labor  are  laws  in  the  community 
of  the  Pilgrims ;  and  the  occupation  of  their  lives  during 
the  earlier  portion  of  their  settlement  in  the  New  World 
was  divine  worship  and  labor. 

Such  was  the  little  colony  of  the  Mayflower.  That 
was  the  seed.  It  fell  in  good  soil,  and  bore  fruit  a  hund- 
red-fold. There  was  a  creative  power  in  that  grain  of 
corn ;  and  we  recognize  the  same  to  this  day  in  all  the 
social  institutions  and  spiritual  life  of  the  United  States, 
even  where  this  is  still  cramped  by  accidental  fetters,  or 
darkened  by  the  shades  of  the  old  night. 

The  humanity  which  became  the  lawgiver  of  this  hem- 
isphere stood  forth  there  with  a  full  consciousness  of  her- 


642  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

self  as  the  servant  of  Grod  and  a  member  of  the  social 
state.  These  two  in  her  are  one.  This  is  her  peculiarity 
or  her  peculiar  perfection. 

Many  of  our  countrymen  regard  the  United  States 
merely  as  an  aggregate  of  inharmonious  parts,  brought 
together  by  chance,  and  adhering  together  by  chance, 
without  any  organized  centre. 

But  no  one  who  has  lived  for  any  length  of  time  in  the 
United  States,  with  leisure  to  study  their  life,  can  fail  to 
perceive  that  they  are  within  themselves  possessed  of  a 
common  creative  principle  of  life,  which  is  vital  in  the 
highest  degree,  and  this  is  their  religious  and  civil  con- 
sciousness. 

It  is  this  which  every  where  erects  churches,  organizes 
social  institutions,  and  those  still  more  powerful  free  as- 
sociations; this  it  is  which  gives  the  bent  to  education, 
which  determines  the  character  of  the  home ;  this  which 
finds  its  way  into  literature,  into  all  great  social  move- 
ments, the  watch- word  of  which  is  every  where  that  of  the 
genuinely  divine  commandments,  "Love  Grod  above  all 
things,  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  Nowhere,  indeed, 
on  the  face  of  the  earth  has  the  Christian  consciousness 
of  true  human  freedom  attained  to  so  full  a  recognization 
as  in  the  United  States ;  nowhere  has  it  expressed  so  uni- 
versally, and  still  expresses,  both  by  word  and  deed,  the 
doctrine  that  pure  religion  is  the  foundation  and  for- 
tress of  sound  morality ;  that  the  true  worship  of  Grod  is 
the  true  love  of  man ;  that  the  most  acceptable  sacrifice 
which  can  be  presented  to  the  Father  of  Nations  is  the 
sight  of  a  free,  pious,  and  happy  people,  all  of  whom  have 
equal  rights  and  equal  opportunity  to  acquire  the  highest 
human  worth,  the  highest  human  happiness. 

This  consciousness  is  the  centre  of  gravity  in  the  cul- 
tivation of  the  New  World  throughout  the  Northern  States. 
Every  thing  else,  whether  it  be  statesmanship,  material 
development,  science,  or  art,  are  subordinate  to  this,  and 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  643 

must  voluntarily  or  involuntarily  obey  it.  There  are  sep- 
arate corps,  and  separate  leaders,  and  many  different 
names,  but  there  is  one  Commander-in-chief,  whom  all 
must  obey  and  follow,  and  this  is  the  great  humanity — 
humanity  in  its  highest  individual  and  social  develop- 
ment. The  leading  principle  of  this  idea  is,  that  each 
and  all  must  serve.  This  it  is  which  must  be  realized  in 
every  individual  human  being,  and  in  society  at  large. 

The  Pilgrims  took  with  them  the  Bible  and  implements 
of  labor  from  Europe  to  the  New  World,  and  it  may  be 
said  with  justice  that  these  two  are  to  this  day  great  pow- 
ers in  the  cultivation  thereof.  Religious  and  spiritual  life 
develop  themselves  in  proportion  to  physical  improvement. 
The  human  being  and  humanity  are  regarded  and  ad- 
vanced pre-eminently  with  reference  to  their  heavenly  and 
their  merely  earthly  relationship ;  every  thing  else  is  sec- 
ondary. 

Spiritual  life  must  be  here  regarded  principally  in  its 
form  as  churches,  and  in  the  results  thence  accruing. 

North  America  is  usually  upbraided,  in  Europe,  with 
its  many  dissimilar  religious  sects,  its  many  separated 
churches.  Nevertheless,  it  may  be  perceived,  at  the  same 
time,  that  they  are  possessed  of  an  essential  unity  in  doc- 
trine and  life,  although  each  individual  sect  has,  as  its 
germ,  gathered  itself  around  some  one  individual  truth 
which  it  elevates  for  its  standard.* 

*  "  What,  even  the  Mormons  1"  you  ask,  suspiciously.  Without  being 
able  to  speak  with  precision  of  that  which  is  distinctive  in  the  doctrines 
of  the  Mormons,  I  must  still  say,  on  the  ground  of  what  I  was  able  to  col- 
lect in  America  regarding  this  sect — its  leaders  and  doctrines — that  I  be- 
lieve the  accusations  laid  to  their  charge  are  for  the  greater  part  untrue. 
The  Mormons  acknowledge  as  theirs  the  revelation  of  Christ  and  the 
Bible.  Their  later  prophets  (as  I  myself  had  opportunity  of  ascertaining) 
have  given  merely  more  close  and  more  special  prophecies  of  Christ,  but 
no  new  doctrines.  I  was  assured  by  an  intellectual  man — not  a  Mormon 
— who  had  resided  two  years  among  the  Mormons  in  Utah,  that  the  mor- 
als of  the  people  were  remarkably  pure,  and  that  the  Mormon  women  were 
above  all  blame. 


644  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

This  was  its  purpose,  its  mission,  its  necessity.  ' '  God 
would  have  it  so !"  I  have  been  compelled  to  say  many 
times  to  myself,  as  I  contemplated  the  histories  and  the 
lives  of  the  persons  who  founded  the  most  remarkable 
sects  of  North  America,  Roger  Williams,  Anne  Hutchin- 
son, G-eorge  Fox,  Anne  Lee,  and  others,  were  impelled  by 
a  spirit  mightier  than  themselves.  They  began  by  oppos- 
ing the  inner  voice  (as  Luther  did),  but  in  the  end  they 
were  compelled  to  follow  its  commands.  These  persons, 
divinely  possessed,  were  driven  by  their  inward  spirit  from 
comfortable  and  cheerful  homes  out  into  the  wilderness, 
into  captivity  and  persecution,  and  amid  manifold  suffer- 
ing, for  the  promulgation  of  that  truth  which  they  had  re- 
ceived, to  suffer,  nay,  even  to  die  for  the  doctrines  they 
proclaimed.  They  could  not  do  otherwise — they  ought 
not  to  do  otherwise,  if  they  were  worthy  to  be  the  serv- 
ants of  God. 

"  Do  not  stand  still  with  Luther  and  Calvin,"  exclaimed 
Robinson,  the  spiritual  pastor  of  the  Pilgrims,  addressing 
them  from  the  shores  of  the  Old  World ;  "  they  were  great 
and  shining  lights  in  their  time,  but  they  penetrated  not 
to  the  councils  of  God.  I  conjure  you,  bear  this  in  your 
remembrance;  it  is  an  article  of  your  Church  communion 
that  you  hold  yourselves  in  readiness  to  receive  whatever 

The  founder  of  the  sect,  Joe  Smith,  was  9  man  of  simple  education,  but 
possessed  of  extraordinary  natural  gifts,  even  of  that  secondary  prophetic 
kind  which  is  known  in  Scotland  under  the  name  of  "  second-sight."  He 
himself  believed  in  his  revelations — at  least  in  a  part  of  them.  After  his 
death,  the  Mormon  community  was  governed  by  men  whom  Joe  Smith 
appointed  to  be  his  successors.  They  rule,  as  Smith  had  done,  according 
to  the  word  of  the  Bible  and  the  inspiration  of  the  Spirit.  The  hierarch- 
ical character  of  the  government,  under  prudent  leaders,  constitutes  its 
present  strength,  and  has  caused  its  rapid  prosperity,  under  the  Anglo- 
American  moral  law  and  order — which  even  in  the  valley  of  the  Salt  Lake 
shows  its  formative  powers— that  very  form  of  government  constitutes 
its  danger,  and  may  probably  one  day  bring  about  its  fall.  And  that  day 
will  be  whenever  it  violates  the  sanctity  of  private  life.  Should  the  in- 
spiration of  the  government  permit  polygamy,  the  Anglo-American  home 
will  never  allow  it. 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  645 

truth  shall  be  revealed  to  you  from  the  written  word  of 
G-od." 

It  was  on  the  ground  of  this  progressive,  divine  com- 
munication from  God  to  man  that  Luther  appealed  from 
the  Pope's  bull  to  the  Bible;  it  was  on  the  ground  of  the 
same  doctrine  that  the  Puritans  appealed  from  the  state 
Church  of  England  to  the  right  of  the  human  conscience, 
with  the  light  of  Scripture  to  decide,  each  man  for  him- 
self, on  his  mode  of  faith  and  divine  worship.  It  was  also 
on  the  ground  of  the  same  doctrine  that,  still  later,  Anne 
Hutchinson  and  Henry  Vane — in  whom  it  was  said  that 
Calvinism  went  to  seed — appealed  from  the  dogmatic  des- 
potism of  Calvinism  to  the  judgment-seat  of  individual 
conscience,  and  the  voice  of  God  within  it.  God's  light 
in  the  Scriptures,  in  connection  with  the  revelation  of  Grod 
in  the  conscience  of  the  searcher  of  the  Scriptures,  could 
and  should  alone  decide.  Persecution  and  banishment 
only  served  to  strengthen  the  cry  in  the  innermost  of  the 
soul.  • 

Driven  from  home  and  country,  deserted  by  all,  accused 
by  his  friends,  and  reproached  even  by  his  wife,  the  gentle 
but  steadfast  Roger  "Williams  was  obliged  to  flee  into  the 
wilderness  for  the  doctrines  of  the  liberty  of  conscience. 
But  Grod  was  with  him,  and  there  grew  up  around  him 
the  large  city  of  Providence,  and  afterward  a  state,  that  of 
Rhode  Island,  the  home  of  religious  toleration  and  human 
love. 

The  principle  of  freedom  which  the  Pilgrims  first  plant- 
ed in  the  soil  of  the  New  World  became  more  and  more 
intrinsically  inward,  demanding  for  man  that  he  should  be 
left  alone  with  God. 

We  know  very  well,  my  noble  friend,  to  what  dangers 
of  self-delusion  and  arrogance  the  human  mind  is  liable 
from  this  point  of  view.  But — every  point  of  view  has  its 
dangers  when  the  eye  is  dark,  and  the  human  mind  weak 
or  inflated  with  pride ;  nevertheless,  there  is  no  higher  or 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

more  inward  point  of  view  than  this — Man  alone  with 
God.  God  spoke  in  the  times  of  old  with  the  great  law- 
givers, with  Moses  and  the  prophets.  It  is  our  Christian, 
our  joy-giving  helief,  that  God  at  this  day  speaks  indi- 
vidually to  all  and  each  of  his  children,  as  He,  through 
Christ,  spoke  to  Peter  and  Mary ;  that  all  and  each  of  us 
may,  in  our  most  sacred  moments,  perceive  His  voice,  and 
become  both  ear  and  tongue  for  his  truth.  Every  thing 
in  this  respect  depends  on  purity  and  obedience  in  the  in- 
dividual man.  It  may  be  unpardonable  audacity  to  stand 
forth  in  the  pretension  of  a  higher  knowledge ;  it  may  be 
criminal  cowardice  to  remain  silent ;  God  alone  can  be  the 
judge  of  this.  The  human  being  always  stands  at  the 
last  alone  with  God,  and  no  one  can  then  come  between 
them.  The  Church  can  teach  much,  society  can  give 
much  culture,  but  at  the  last  they  are  insufficient.  The 
human  soul  must  converse  alone  with  God.  In  this  lies 
a  great  danger,  but  great  strength  and  consolation  like- 
wise. The  founders  of  sects  in  America  have  known  both. 
If  you  should  inquire  in  what  way  this  division  of  the 
Church  into  so  many  sects  exhibits  itself  in  the  New 
World,  I  would  reply,  firstly,  in  a  large  and  universal  love 
of  the  Church,  and  a  powerful  form  of  Church  discipline. 
The  number  of  churches — always  well  and  handsomely 
built — in  both  the  larger  and  smaller  cities,  must  strike 
every  traveler  in  the  United  States.  Generally  the  church- 
es are  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  the  inhabitants,  one 
for  each  thousand  persons,  frequently  each  five  hundred, 
sometimes  for  less.  Each  religious  community  governs 
itself,  and  takes  cognizance  of  all  its  members,  and  of  its 
poor,  and  exercises  a  salutary  supervision  of  morals  and 
general  conduct.  The  minister  is  exclusively  the  shep- 
herd of  souls,  and  occupies  himself  with  nothing  except- 
ing the  care  of  souls,  by  public  preaching  and  private  ad- 
monition and  sympathy.  The  community,  which  elects 
its  own  minister,  is  generally  very  much  attached  to  him, 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  647 

and  estimates  him  very  highly  if  he  deserves  it.  Much 
has  been  said  in  Europe  on  the  fortune-hunting  of  the 
ministers  in  America;  but  I  must  say,  that  I  found  those 
ministers  who  were  possessed  of  great  Christian  worth  and 
great  independence  of  character  were  always  regarded 
with  great  affection  by  their  congregations,  supported  by 
them,  cared  for  and  provided  for  as  long  as  they  lived. 
The  ministers  of  religion  constitute  one  portion  of  the  aris- 
tocracy of  America,  and  I  have  among  them  met  with  the 
most  intelligent  and  interesting  individuals. 

The  consequence  of  this  liberty,  which  is  extended  to 
sects,  exhibits  itself  still  further  by  a  large  development 
of  the  religious  mind.  Each  considerable  sect  has  its  own 
religious  publication,  in  which  its  doctrines  are  developed 
by  discussion  with  others,  and  the  church  relationship  is 
contemplated  in  a  many-sided  manner.  Hence  the  pub- 
lic mind  is  very  much  turned  to  these  subjects,  and  a  gen- 
eral comprehension  of  them  is  the  result ;  and  therefore  it 
may  be  said  of  the  American  people,  as  Swedenborg,  in 
his  day,  said  of  the  English,  in  the  "Vision  of  the  Last 
Judgment," 

"  The  better  portion  of  this  nation  are  at  the  central 
point  before  all  Christians,  and  the  cause  of  their  being  at 
the  centre  is,  that  they  have  developed  the  intellectual 
light.  This  light  proceeds  from  the  freedom  which  they 
have  enjoyed  in  thought,  and  consequently  in  speaking 
and  writing.  Among  the  people  of  other  nations  this  in- 
tellectual light  is  concealed,  because  it  has  had  no  outlet." 

You  are  of  a  certainty  acquainted  with  a  number  of 
the  more  important  religious  sects  in  the  United  States. 
I  will  here,  therefore,  merely  speak  of  that  which  distin- 
guishes them  in  general,  and  is  indicative  of  their  inner 
congregational  life.  Some  address  themselves  more  im- 
mediately to  the  feelings,  others  to  the  intellect ;  all,  how- 
ever, lay  the  greatest  importance  on  works  of  love.  The 
Catholic  and  the  Quaker,  on  this  broad  ground,  extend  to 


648  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

each  other  their  hands.  No  sect,  however,  it  seems  to 
me,  has  attained  to  a  universal  church  consciousness,  pro- 
portioned to  the  political  consciousness  of  the  United 
States,  excepting  in  some  of  their  highest  representatives. 
I  have  heard  genial  ministers  among  the  Calvinists,  the 
Unitarians,  the  Baptists,  who  all  open  the  Church  of 
Christ  to  the  wide  world.  Especially  so  in  the  old  Pres- 
byterian Congregational  Church,  which  I  will  also  call 
the  Church  of  the  Pilgrims,  and  in  which  every  layman 
takes  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  Church.  This  Presbyte- 
rian Church  seems  to  be  possessed  of  a  strong,  growing, 
and  expansive  life,  i.  e.,  in  the  free  states  ;  in  the  slave 
states  that  Church  is  in  general  enslaved  and  bigoted  in 
character.  In  the  free  states  it  stands  fixed  on  the  Rock 
of  Ages,  but  opens  itself  thence  to  embrace  the  whole 
world.  Even  nature,  art,  industry,  and  science  are  bap- 
tized to  the  service  of  Grod. 

The  so-called  "  Revivals"  belong  to  the  phenomena 
which  are  common  to  all  the  Protestant  churches  of  the 
United  States,  and  which  are  indications  of  their  vitalizing 
principle.  These  revivals  are  times  when  persons,  pos- 
sessed of  unusual  gifts  and  impelled  by  burning  zeal,  go 
about  as  missionaries  into  the  cities  and  the  country, 
uttering  afresh  the  cry  of  John  the  Baptist,  "  Be  ye  con- 
verted !"  Such  times  and  seasons  permeate  the  life  of 
the  Church  like  deep,  fresh  respirations  from  the  sphere 
of  religious  life,  and  thousands  of  individuals  date  from 
such  their  new  and  better  life. 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  circumstances  of  the  general 
Church  in  the  United  States  appears  to  me  to  be  the  great 
institution  for  the  diffusion  of  popular  literature  of  a  moral 
and  religious  tendency,  but  without  any  sectarian  spirit, 
which  was  established  in  New  York  about  twenty  years 
ago,  and  to  which  the  adherents  of  many  different  sects 
equally  extended  support,  continuing  to  work  amicably 
and   powerfully   together   to  the  present  time.     Twenty 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  649 

steam-presses  work  off  twenty-five  thousand  sheets  daily, 
three  thousand  volumes,  calculated  to  diffuse  the  knowl- 
edge of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  the  redeemer  of  sinners, 
and  to  promote  living  piety  and  sound  morality  by  the 
circulation  of  works  which  will  meet  the  approval  of  all 
evangelical  Christians. 

The  American  Tract  Society  has  thus  made  the  press 
subserve  for  the  evangelizing  of  America.  The  best  of  the 
religious  and  moral  literature  of  England  and  America  is 
collected  in  these  popular  works,  which  are  handsomely 
printed,  and  furnished  with  beautiful  wood-cuts.  Many 
hundred  colporteurs  are  sent  out  to  diffuse  these  over  the 
whole  Union,  over  its  most  remote  portions,  among  foreign- 
ers, and  in  the  wildernesses,  and  thus  the  evangelical 
Church  continues  to  the  present  day  to  scatter  a  gentle 
rain  of  manna  over  the  land,  as  seed  from  the  hand  of  the 
Gfreat  Sower,  and  the  good  which  is  thereby  produced,  and 
which  springs  up  especially  in  the  hearts  of  childhood  and 
youth,  is  incalculable. 

And  if  we  turn  from  this  great  institution  for  the  scat- 
tering of  evangelical  seed — which  has  now  been  imitated 
in  many  of  the  Northern  States — to  popular  schools,  to  es- 
tablishments for  neglected  humanity,  for  the  criminal,  for 
the  sick,  for  the  unfortunate  of  society,  and,  above  all,  to 
the  increasing  attention  to  these,  and  the  labor  which  is 
bestowed  upon  them  in  the  United  States,  it  can  not  be 
denied  that  these,  above  all,  deserve  the  name  of  Christian 
States. 

But  you  will  say  that  this  is  merely  one  side  of  the  pic- 
ture ;  that  you  know  very  well  that  another  life  increases 
also  in  these  states,  a  worship  and  a  Church  which  are 
not  of  G-od.  I  know  it  well  also.  The  Old  Serpent  lives 
also  on  the  soil  of  the  New  "World.  And  call  it  Mammon- 
worship,  slavery,  despotism,  mobocracy,  or  by  whatever 
name  you  please,  indicative  of  the  principle  of  selfishness 
and  lies,  it  lives,  it  grows  there,  as  the  tares  among  the 

Vol.  II.— E  e 


650  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

wheat.  Yes,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  most  essential  im- 
pulses of  the  human  spirit,  for  good  as  well  as  for  evil,  and 
which,  during  the  ages  of  history,  have  sprung  up  and 
flourished  in  Asia  and  in  Europe,  have  sprung  up  also  in 
America,  and  will  there  ripen  for  harvest.  Frequently, 
during  my  residence  in  America,  was  I  reminded  of  your 
words,  in  your  article  on  the  coming  of  the  Lord  and  the 
completion  of  all  things,  in  which  you  say, 

"  The  nearer  history  approaches  to  its  close,  the  great- 
er is  the  impetus  attained  hy  the  wheel  of  time ;  the  great- 
er is  the  speed  and  the  rapidity,  the  more  quick  the  rev- 
olution of  dissimilar  conditions  hurrying  onward  develop- 
ment ;  and  he  may  greatly  miscalculate  who  conceives 
that  in  the  present  condition  of  the  world  there  still  re- 
mains as  much  to  do  as  may  require  the  labor  of  centu- 
ries, and  that  the  end  may  still  be  very  distant ;  for,  if  the 
Lord  so  will,  it  may  be  done  in  an  eventful  day,  and  with- 
out such  a  one  it  never  will  be  accomplished.  Neither, 
therefore,  is  it  opposed  to  the  doctrine  of  Scripture,  if  we 
conceive  of  the  Millennium  as  a  very  short  period — as  one 
day  which  concentrates  in  itself  a  fullness  and  a  glory 
which  otherwise  would  extend  over  a  century." 

The  life  of  North  America  exhibits  such  a  hurrying  on- 
ward, such  a  concentration  of  the  fullness  of  development 
in  good  and  in  evil.  The  vastness  and  comprehensiveness 
of  this  hemisphere,  embracing  the  productions  and  pecul- 
iar beauties  of  every  zone  ;  the  means  of  communication, 
their  abundance  and  facility,  which  places  them  within 
the  reach  of  every  man ;  the  extent  of  individual  freedom, 
the  unlimited  scope  for  competition — nay,  even  the  nerv- 
ous temperament  of  the  climate,  and  its  stimulating  effect 
upon  a  race  whose  inborn  energy  impels  them  onward, 
and,  carrying  all  other  people  along  with  them,  ever  ac- 
celerates their  speed  with  the  force  of  the  avalanche,  on- 
ward to  the  goal,  to  the  day  of  judgment ;  for,  though  I 
have  already  said  it,  I  must  repeat  it  here,  we  must  not 


HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD.  651 

expect  a  Utopia  from  America,  but  rather  a  day  of  judg- 
ment ;  and  to  no  nation  so  much  as  to  this  does  the  ad- 
monishing word  of  Christ  seem  so  applicable — "Watch!" 

Yet,  nevertheless,  when  I  look  at  that  life,  which  is  at 
this  time  most  powerfully  increasing — that  which  is  in  the 
ascendant  and  prevalent  throughout  the  United  States, 
I  must  confess  that  my  heart  is  filled  with  hope  ;  because, 
if  the  United  States  would — and  I  believe  they  will — re- 
move from  their  present  legislation  its  great  anomaly — 
if  they  would  introduce  into  slavery  the  right  of  libera- 
tion by  labor,  and  establish  a  gradual  emancipation  ac- 
cording to  law,  then  *         *         *         * 

If  I  imagine  to  myself  some  great  convulsion  of  nature, 
which  should  all  at  once  annihilate  this  vast  hemisphere — 
imagine  it  sunk  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  into  the  depths 
of  the  sea,  and  there  vanishing  with  its  star-strewn  ban- 
ners, its  fleets  and  rail-roads,  its  great  cities  and  swarm- 
ing human  masses,  its  proud  capitols  and  beautiful  quiet 
homes — imagine  to  myself  all  this  vanishing  silently  into 
the  great  deep,  as  into  an  immense  grave,  and  the  waves 
roaring  over  it,  and  the  space  being  desolate  and  void, 
save  for  the  angel  of  judgment,  flying  forth  alone  over  the 
past  world,  with  the  record  of  its  deeds  in  his  hand, 
which  he  will  place  in  the  Book  of  Life  before  the  throne 
of  the  Almighty  Judge — then  on  this  page  we  read, 

"  This  people  were  in  earnest  to  realize  the  kingdom  of 
Christ  on  earth,  for  the  honor  of  God  the  Father !" 

Behold  here,  my  precious  friend  and  teacher,  my  con- 
fession of  faith  regarding  the  life  of  the  New  World.  Let 
me  hope  that  I  may  one  day  justify  it  to  you,  either  in 
your  home  or  in  mine. 

It  was  one  of  my  most  ardent  wishes  in  the  United 
States  to  make  them  acquainted  with  you  and  your  the- 
ological opinions,  and  it  lies  very  much  at  my  heart  to 
make  you  more  intimately  acquainted  with  them,  being 
certain  that  the  Christian  mind  of  Scandinavia  and  the 


652  HOMES  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD. 

people  of  America  are  profoundly  united  by  their  labor  in 
the  service  of  the  same  Lord,  and  that  they  have  much 
to  say  to  each  other. 

Let  me  be  included  in  your  goodness,  in  your  kind  re- 
membrance ! 


1   ■ 


APPENDIX. 


It  was  my  intention,  at  the  commencement  of  this  work,  to  introduce 
in  an  Appendix  at  its  close  such  of  the  scenes  which  I  had  witnessed,  and 
my  own  experience  in  the  slave  states  of  America  and  in  Cuba,  as  I  con- 
sidered necessary  to  be  made  known,  but  which  I  had  not  related  in  my 
letters,  being  unwilling  to  point  out  persons  and  places.  The  celebrated 
work,  however,  of  Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe,  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin," 
and,  still  more,  her  lately  published  work,  "A  Key,  &c,"  have  rendered 
this  unpleasant  duty  unnecessary  for  me ;  for  my  narratives  would  not 
have  presented  any  facts  essentially  different  to  those  which  she  has  in- 
troduced into  her  story,  so  that  I  need  not  further  prolong  this  work, 
which  is  already  too  much  extended,  than  by  remarking  that  my  pro- 
posed narration  would  have  principally  strengthened  my  often-repeated 
observation  regarding  the  demoralizing  effect  of  the  institution  of  slavery 
on  the  white  population. 

When  I  saw  a  young  man  of  almost  angelic  beauty,  a  noble  by  descent 
and  appearance,  sell  his  soul,  with  the  full  consciousness  of  doing  so,  to 
receive  the  wages  of  a  slave-driver ;  heard  him  acknowledge  that  he  did 
not  dare  to  read  the  Bible  ;  heard  him  say  that  he — at  the  beginning  of 
his  career — would  not  for  any  money  have  touched  a  negro  with  the 
whip,  but  that  now  he  should  be  able,  without  hesitation,  to  have  a  negro 
flogged  to  death  for  "  example's  sake,"  and  chase  them  with  blood- 
hounds or  any  thing  else ;  when  I  heard  one  of  the  richest  planters  of 
Louisiana,  one  of  the  politest  of  gentlemen,  naively  praise  himself  and 
the  system  on  his  plantation,  without  having  the  slightest  idea  of  the 
miserable  hypocrisy,  and  the  despotism  which  the  whole  of  his  conduct 
on  these  plantations  betrayed  ;  when  I  saw  a  Christian  wToman  and 
mother  forbid  her  daughter  to  dance  on  a  Sunday,  yet  perceive  nothing 
offensive  in  compelling  her  slaves  to  work  for  her  the  whole  of  the  Sun- 
day to  the  music  of  the  cracking  whip ;  when  I  saw  agreeable  and  ami- 
able young  people  anxious  one  for  another,  yet  witness  with  perfect  in- 
difference the  brutal  maltreatment  of  a  young  negro  woman  by  her  mas- 
ter for  some  trivial  offense,  I  have  been  compelled  to  say  with  my  friend, 
the  planter  on  the  Mississippi,  "  It  is  the  system !  it  is  the  system  which 
produced  all  this  !" 

Honor  be  to  the  noble,  warm-hearted  American  woman,  who  has  stood 
forth  in  our  day — as  no  other  woman  in  the  realms  of  literature  has  yet 
done — for  the  cause  of  humanity  and  the  honor  of  her  native  land ,  and 


654  APPENDIX.  * 

that  with  a  power  which  has  won  for  her  the  whole  ear  of  humanity. 
Honor  and  blessing  be  hers  !  What  will  not  that  people  become  who  can 
produce  such  daughters ! 

I  differ  from  the  noble  author  of  "  Uncle  Tom"  in  my  convictions  re- 
garding the  mode  of  emancipation  from  slavery.  I  am  firmly  persuaded 
that  the  slave  states  of  America  have  really  begun  the  work,  inasmuch 
as  they  have  begun  to  allow  the  negro  slaves  to  form  themselves  into 
Christian  communities,  and  by  uniting  emancipation  with  the  colonization 
of  Africa  by  free  negroes.  It  is  only  by  the  establishment  of  Christian 
negro  communities  that  a  good  emancipation  can  be  effected.  The  con- 
dition of  the  negroes  in  Africa  and  Jamaica  show  what  this  people  would 
become  without  a  firm  basis  of  Christian  life  and  Christian  teaching ;  it 
is  nothing  to  praise,  it  has  nothing  inviting,  I  repeat  it ;  a  commencement 
is  already  made  in  several  of  the  slave  states  to  elevate  the  moral  condi- 
tion of  the  negro  slaves,  and  my  cordial  wish  and  my  hope  is  that  still 
more  will  yet  be  done,  as  well  by  statutes  of  emancipation  as  by  the  in- 
struction of  negro  children.  The  preachings  of  the  slaves  themselves, 
which  I  heard  in  many  of  the  American  slave  states,  are  the  best  proof 
of  the  living  and  beneficial  manner  in  which  they  receive  Christianity. 
They  have  a  peculiar  capacity  for  the  reception  of  its  innermost  life  and 
understanding.  God  grant  that  they  may  come  to  hear  the  Gospel 
throughout  the  whole  of  the  slave  states !  But  as  yet  there  is  a  great 
deal  wanting  for  that — an  unpardonably  great  deal ! 

My  own  hope  rests  still,  however,  as  before,  in  the  nobler  South ;  my 
earnest  wish  is,  that  it  may  take  the  emancipation  question  into  its  own 
hand.  It  alone,  and  not  England,  nor  yet  the  Northern  States  of  Amer- 
ica, can  enter  into  the  greatness  of  the  question.  The  South  alone  knows 
the  burden,  the  danger,  the  responsibility,  all  the  great  difficulties ;  it 
alone  has  the  labor  and  the  sorrows.  If  it  succeed  in  unloosing  the  fet- 
ters of  the  slave,  and  freeing  its  glorious,  grand  country  from  slavery,  it 
will  achieve  for  itself  unfading  glory. 
Stockholm,  May  1st,  1853. 


THE    END. 


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